A Charter Mage Scorned
by EtincelleD'OR
Summary: Set in Ancient Egypt. They say Hell hath no fury like a Charter Mage scorned, and who is Seth to argue with that? SethxKisara SetoxSerenity FINISHED!
1. Nightmare

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Hey peeps it's WildEm back with another fic! waves to her adoring fans Hope you enjoy! Here's the lowdown on the ages and stuff. Sekhha and Seclinon I don't know if they ever get mentioned in the show but I have heard of them. Iotkh is an OC. **

**Ages:**

**Seth - Thirteen**

**Atem - Twelve (nearly thirteen)**

**Mana - Nine**

**Isis - Twenty-five - newly appointed Priestess (not _High _Priestess yet though)**

**Mahado - Twenty**

**Sekhha: Isis' former teacher - High Priestess - Isis' predecessor - mid-fifties**

**Seclinon: High Priest - Seth's predecessor - forty-ish**

**Iotkh: Priest - Head Mage - Mahado's predecessor - forty-ish (OC)**

**Karim, Shaada and Akunadin are on the Court too - they're a bit younger than they appear in the anime though - duh!**

**Pharaoh Akunumkanon - fifty-ish.**

**Disclaimer: I am not Kazuki Takahashi. Nor am I Garth Nix (The Old Kingdom Trilogy) or Constance Burge (Charmed). If I were the world would be a happier place...**

**MWAHAHAHAHA... sees the Apocalypse Riders approaching**

**Okay-dokay then peeps on with the story:**

_Dream _

_Evil was coming._

_Fast._

_A tall young man ran over a plain of boulders and rocks, never once tripping, his timing perfect, his balance never faltering. His long white cape billowing behind him as he covered the ground with long strides, a strange, long golden wand-object in his hand. _

_But he wasn't running from the danger, no…_

_He was running towards it._

_He knew what was coming, it seemed, and he doubled his speed. _

_He dug his heels into the ground, and stopped, looking down into a colossal crevice, where the Evil lay._

_The Evil wasn't the only thing._

_His friends, his charges were there too. _

_Held._

_Captured. _

_He gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath, which was icy and easily visible, even though the heat of fire was present in the staling air. He closed his eyes calmly, confidence emitting from his powerful form. He held out his arms, and let his weight pluge forward, into the crevice, falling freely, no trace of fear could be detected. His eyes remained closed, and with a neat twist, he landed on a slab of brimstone._

_Without a sound._

_He stood up from his crouch, opening his piercing blue eyes, nigh on burning holes in what he saw. A river of lava ran through the crevice centre, bubbling in a vain attempt to threaten him. He looked into it deeply, and, unlike most lava, he saw, he could see his reflection in it. Just. Scarcely. But still, he could. He tore his gaze from the swirling red depths of the lava river , and looked around. It was only brimstone, and there were three doorways, cut into the jagged rock. _

_Three from which to choose._

_One of which would take him where he needed to be. He closed his eyes again, and asked himself, 'which one?'_

_A Mark glowed on his forehead, slightly heating the gold of the headdress which concealed it. _

_Voices whispered, echoed inside his head, and he opened his eyes, letting them dissipate. He walked a few steps, before breaking into a mad sprint again, through the path on the far left. As the light provided by the lava river faded, he found himself in darkness. He put his hand to the wall for guidance, the rough texture of the cold wall comforting his warm skin. Seeing a light ahead, he ran for it, sensing them._

_He was getting closer._

_Eventually, he ran out into a room light by torches fastened to the walls, and daytime hallucinations flashed before his vision. He ignored them and willed them clear. _

_He could hear them now, in his head though, not genuinely. As their whitelighter, he could hear their lives in his head, and feel them in his heart. And now, he could feel pain, distress and fear. He tried desperately to block it out, and rubbed his temples tenderly with his long fingers. The voices became louder, and the pain became worse - in his and his charges. He shut his eyes tightly as they dominated his mind, yelling his name. _

_They were warning him._

_His eyes snapped open, and with what they met, he jumped in shock…_

_End Dream_

Seth's eyes flew open, wild and traumatized. His breath came fast, his arms had managed to fix themselves at his sides.

It had felt like he was falling, like you do when you're having a nightmare and it feels like you land on the bed.His heart felt like it had slowed in shock, and he could hear a high pitched noise ringing in his ears. After having lain there for a few seconds, letting the ringing fade, he put his hands lightly to his brow, just above his eyebrows, and found it to be almost dripping with cold sweat.

His long limbs were stiff, and he let his head fall back on the pillow. Or what should have been a pillow. Expecting to be met with something soft, his head fell further back than expected, onto the somewhat uncomfortable mattress. He sighed with displeasure and put a hand to his writhing stomach.

He felt, to sum up in one word, ill.

Ill.

Unnerved.

Turning onto his side, he saw his bedcover and the majority of his sheet, which, he realised, he must have clawed off in his troubled slumber. He put his other cool hand to his burning cheek, which felt pleasant and soothing. He relaxed a bit, and stretched his long legs and arms.

That felt better.

The nausea that plagued his abdomen faded, and he rolled himself out of bed, taking his hand off his cheek and putting it to his yet stiff neck.

What he would give for a day off! According to Priest Akunadin, he was of a critical age, where he had to study and train continuously, non-stop, until he could do everything without thinking about it. He was already an accomplished Mage, and he enjoyed practising Magic immensely.

He was already as good as Mahado, who, at twenty, was fully trained and vastly talented. He hoped that the Priests would be busy today, because, if they didn't have time to exercise their horses, Seth was called upon to do it for them. Seth loved the horses, and spent every last minute he had down in the palace stables - something that his teacher, Priest Akunadin, strongly disapproved of. In his opinion, Seth spent far too much time 'mucking around with those damn creatures' instead of concentrating on his studies.

However, the wishes of The High Priest Seclinon and High Priestess Sekhha came before that of Priest Akunadin, and Seth was allowed to exercise the Priests' horses - an honour for which he was eternally grateful. He was a talented horsemaster, and could coax a tune out of anything he sat on. That was the best he could hope for from a normal day.

He stood up and grabbed his clothes, pulling them on and snatching up his dagger, he walked from his room to what was known as the Potion Pantry, where Akunadin would be waiting for him.

This nightmare had been haunting him every night for the past few weeks, and sometimes, after he woke up, he would accidentally make something happen - lose control of his powers. Not drastically, but he would raise breezes and make things levitate unintentionally. He didn't know why, and it was quite frightening when he did. He put this behind him, and hurried to his lesson.

Akunadin wasn't the nicest of teachers; quite brutal, in fact. He often beat Seth, and used his powers against him. Seth never dared fight back - he didn't know what would happen! He had enough trouble preventing himself from doing something, let alone purposefully using his magic - alright, he could, but he would still he cruelly reprimanded if he did.

"Where were you?" asked a cold voice from behind the cauldron on the island in the middle of the room. The walls consisted of shelfs filled with potions, spellbooks and potion ingredients, and there wasn't an unused bit of wall in sight. Seth looked his teacher in the eye - just because he didn't want to use magic against him, didn't mean that he wouldn't defend himself mortally.

"I am on time, if the sun does not deceive me," he replied coolly,

"I expect you to be here before me, you defiant child!" he growled, he flung his hand backwards, as if to hit him in the face, but Seth was standing three metres away, and his hand went straight through the fresh morning-air…

**Well, that's the first chappie! I have already written the next one but it's not going up until I have reviews! Reviews! I tell you! Sag ich dir! (Sorry, personal joke, quite funny if you're me. If you're not, don't worry.) **

**I do regret that I can't reply your reviews, but I need to know what people think lol! Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaassssssseeeeeee!**


	2. Darth Vadar

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Well, I did leave you at a bit of a cliffhanger, but hey! I am mean! MWAHAHAHA... My plans to take over the world are not yet thwarted!**

**This Chapter is called 'Darth Vadar'. There will be no special guest appearance, but think along the lines of; "_wheeze_ Seth. I am your father. _wheeze_" que Star Wars music...**

**Da Da Da Duh De Da Duh De Da...**

**Last time, in 'A Charter Mage Scorned'...**

"I am on time, if the sun does not deceive me," he replied coolly,

"I expect you to be here before me, you defiant child!" he growled, he flung his hand backwards, as if to hit him in the face, but Seth was standing three metres away, and his hand went straight through the fresh morning-air…

**Chapter Two: Darth Vadar...**

Seth felt the force hit his face hard, knocking him off balance, making him reposition his left foot in order to stay standing. He didn't cry out, or give any indication of pain whatsoever. He stood up straight again, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Come here," said Akunadin coldly. Seth took confident strides towards him, cursing himself that he was about 5ft 10, whereas Akunadin was full up 6ft, and could still look down on him somewhat.

Seth felt a new lease of independence. He had taken Akunadin's torture for a long time, and now, he felt something he had never felt before. He felt like his magic was going to expolde from inside him, but he felt slightly more in control. He tried his hardest, he worked nearly the whole day and many times all night, and still his teacher used magic to punish him.

He had not come close enough for Akunadin's liking, however.

"Come here." he repeated, walking around the island and towards his apprentice briskly. He raised his hand in a spell casting stance. Seth said nothing.

"You would defy…"

"My teacher?" he asked, "My tormentor?"

There was a silence, during which Seth expected Akunadin to cast a spell, but

he didn't.

Akunadin looked down on his bold apprentice cautiously. This boy had powers that even he couldn't begin to imagine. Powers that were threatening him. How should a Priest comprehend them? Could a Priest comprehend them?

"Your father." he said, after long and careful deliberation. Seth's widened in disgust;

"What?" he asked, not believing it.

"I am you father." he said again, his evil eyes enjoying Seth's reaction.

"No. No, my father is…" he stopped mid-sentence. He didn't know anything about his father. It wasn't a subject he took time to reflect upon. He had had a mother, long ago, but she had been killed, and he had been brought to the palace. He presumed

that his father was dead. It couldn't be true? Could it?

"Me."

"No."

"Yes Seth."

"NO!" he yelled, closing his eyes tightly. His magic was at odds with him again, and he struggled to control it. Akunadin came closer and Seth held up the palm of his hand, using the power of telekinesis to push him back. Just a few steps, to give him some space, that was all.

All that he had intended, that is.

It had been subtle, but the power that erupted from him was enormous. It hit Akunadin, and threw him back into the shelves of potion ingredients. Seth's eyes widened. Not looking to see if the Priest was conscious or not, he turned and ran, not thinking to orb. He didn't know where he was going, all he could think of was not letting it happen again.

It felt like his soul was writhing and thrashing inside his body, and for you and I, the feeling would be similar to how one feels when they are half-drunk, half-sober, having very little control over themselves, and knowing it at the same time. Except Seth knew exactly what would happen. It happened when he woke from his dream. A build up of power assembled inslde him - power so strong, stronger than he believed he was capable of mustering. He ran into the Great Hall, where a dinner for the Pharaoh, Priests and some foreign priestly visitors was due to take place that evening.

He had never been in there before, and was not even allowed - to his knowledge. He walked a few steps, before collapsing to the ground.

Priestess Isis was the youngest Priest on the Court, and, at twenty-five, the most newly appointed. She was beautiful and fresh-faced, but at the same time was strict and kept control well. She was supervising the decorating of the Hall, and writing something on a piece of papyrus with a long, brightly coloured quill. She heard footsteps behind her, and a strange thud.

"What is your business?" she asked, not turning around. Receiving no answer, she turned her head, and jumped.

There was a child, a boy, lying on the floor, his eyes shut, his arms spread out in front of him. She put her quill and papyrus down, and ran over to him. She rolled him onto his front, and on seeing his face, recognised him as Akunadin's apprentice.

"Seth, Seth awake." she said, her cobalt eyes searching him for signs of life. He was breathing, but didn't stir, and she nudged him gently. The servants putting up the decorations looked on, worried.

"Go back to your work." she ordered, and, reluctantly, they turned their backs. "Seth?" she said again. This time, he woke with a start, eyes wide, lungs screaming for air. He sat up, and backed away from her.

"Seth, are you ill?"

Seth looked at her desperately,

"Get them out." he stuttered, referring to the servants.

"What?"

"Get everybody out… Your Highness… please…" he begged, his voice hoarse, and his arms and legs quivering uncontrollably.

"You! Go!" she barked, and the servant scarpered out of the doors that were used by the kitchen servants when they brought the food to the table. Isis put her palm to his forehead.

"Amun Ra you're freezing!" she exclaimed, as he fanned himself with his hands - which stated to her that he must feel hot. Not something she'd ever seen before.

"Go… please…" he said, as he shut his eyes tightly and grimaced as if in pain.

"And leave you, I think not!" she said,

"No… I…I cannot hold it anymore… I cannot…" he whispered, trailing off into a mere breath that was barely audiable.

"Mana! MANA!" she screamed, for the girl who was supposedly not far off. A breeze began to blow through the room, circulating through the adorned Hall, raising the magical senses of the Priestess.

Then she realised.

It wasn't pain he was holding back…

It was magic.

Seth stood up slowly, and the breeze became stronger. A faint blue fire graced his outline and a Mark appeared on his forehead again. As the wind became destructive, Isis raised her hand and lifted his chestnut fringe. The mark burned brightly, on his cold forehead, and heating the skin on her hand, almost burning her. Seth fastened his arms at his sides and looked like he was going to explode. Mana ran through the door and stopped, frozen in her tracks.

"Mana! Come here, make haste!" said Isis, raising her voice over the wind-storm. She grabbed Seth by the shoulders, and shook him firmly,

"SETH! LOOK AT ME!" she yelled, trying to make contact with him,

"CONTROL IT! LOOK AT ME!" she shrieked, as he turned his his helpless gaze to her, before shutting his eyes again. The grand pillars that supported the Hall were crumbling, and dust was falling from the distant ceiling.

He couldn't hear her.

"FIGHT IT! YOU MUST!"

**I am getting rather attached to these cliffhangers... you know what to do people. **


	3. Anybody? No? Dust?

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**I would say something clever - but it seems I have run out of ideas. Therefore I shall continue to write this fic like a nincompoop with no life... and no, I'm not! It sounded good at the time I thought of it.**

**Disclaimer: I am neither Matt Lucas nor David Walliams.**

**Chapter Three: 'Anybody? No? Dust?'**

Dust continued to fall, and items around the room began to explode, shatter, levitate, combust.

Seth opened his eyes once more, to reveal a flourescent blue glow tinging their pupils. Isis held Mana behind her arm and turned her eyes away. Seth shut his eyes again, and there was a massive explosion, knocking Isis and Mana off their feet. Dust and smoke seeped through the residue of the Hall, clouding their vision.

After it had cleared - which didn't take more than a few seconds - Isis opened her own eyes. Seth stood there, his eyes clear, the Mark on his forehead faded, looking at what he had done. His lungs found themselves in shortage of air again, and his legs felt paralysed to move.

"_Amun Ra…"_ he whispered, before losing all his strength and collapsing to the ground. Isis and Mana got to their feet, and looked around at the damage, and then at the mere child who had wrought it. How could he have that kind of power? It was unheard of for anyone to have magic that strong…

Or was it? …

Seth woke up in his own bed, and for the first time in weeks, woke up with the bedlinen in tact, and not in a cold sweat. He opened his eyes tiredly, and shut them again when he remembered what his uncontrolled power had done.

What he had done.

He had destroyed the Great Hall of the Imperial Palace.

The Great Hall, in which the Pharaoh and his Priests were to receive guests in that evening.

He sighed deeply, inhaling the sweet air into his seemingly bottomless lungs. Ra, he felt better now. He felt unrestricted.

Free.

But he was far from free.

"You're awake?" asked a deep voice from above him. His first fear was that it was Akunadin, but the voice wasn't gruff enough to be Akunadin. It was strong, deep, saturated with authority, but it was warmer. He felt safer than he was with Akunadin, and caved to the voice's demanding of respect.

He looked to his side, and then awoke his second fear. The man sitting at his bedside looked to be about forty, wore crisp white pantaloons that were bandaged to his legs from mid-calf down and a white cape that hung from his shoulders. The rest of his uniform was a conifer-green colour and he wore a lot of gold, on his headdress, chest-plate and armbands. He had olive green eyes, and was a tall 6ft 2.

High Priest Seclinon.

"Your Majesty…" he said, bowing as best he could from his bed, "I am sorry…" he stuttered, but the High Priest held up his hand, as a gesture for silence.

"Apology accepted. But I must crave a word with you." he said, sounding as if he were deadly serious. Seth didn't dare reply to him, but lowered his gaze in shame.

"Seth, I have but spoken with Priestess Isis…" he said, and he himself seemed to be lost for words, "I understand that this was not your fault, nor your intention, yet I must stress to you the importance of the situation."

"What…" he began, but the High Priest held up his palm again,

"Typically - I am obliged to make this clear to you - the penalty for destroying the Great Hall, would be jail. However, the other Priests and I see no reason for this, as it was out of your control. However…" he said.

There was a down side. Seth looked up at him, "However," he continued. "You are aware of the conditions of sorcerers with powers such as yours?"

Seth shook his head,

"Well, it is customary, to condemn those with powers greater than the Priests…"

He was struggling now. How could he tell this to a child,

"To death." he said, Seth gawped, "I admit, it is not a practice that I am in favour of and it is becoming increasingly less commonly practised, but, the power that you displayed yesterday, under the regulation of any other land, you would be executed. Priest Akunadin agrees with this policy, however High Priestess Sekhha and I do not. We have presented the state of affairs to the Pharaoh, who will have the final decision." he said, "We will inform you of the verdict before sunset."

**Oh well, quite short... like most people I know... R&R!**


	4. Taming a madhorse

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Helloooooooooooooo! Here's Chappie Four!**

**Chapter Four - Taming a mad horse:**

"Where are you going?" asked a green-clad man from the doorway, referring to the saddlebags laying on his immaculately made bed. He looked up, bowed curtly, and continued to pack his few things.

"Pharaoh has banished me." he said, sadness curdling in his voice, "I cannot stay here."

"Why are you so hasty as to foretell the Pharaoh's verdict?" asked Seclinon,

"I know. I do anticipate banishment, but even if he decreed I stay, I am a danger to everyone here. It will happen again, and what if I injured, or even killed someone?" Seth waffled, and was confused at the High Priest's smirk.

"He thought that you would say that," he chuckled, "And he told me that if you should say such, I would reply such: It is a risk he is willing to take."

Seth looked up from his occupation of packing, his eyes narrowed slightly in puzzlement. What was he saying?

"He says that 1: he would never banish his nephew, and 2: he would not banish a boy with uncontrolled power, when that boy would one day grow up to be a great sorcerer. You are to stay."

"Your Majes…"

"You dare defy the Pharaoh?" Seclinon asked mockingly, "Unpack your belongings. You are to stay. That is an order." he said, "And also, you will no longer be in the apprenticeship of Priest Akunadin. As of tomorrow, you will concentrate on fighting arts and magic arts. You will also act as an assistant to High Priestess Sekhha, myself and any other Priest that should have need of you. Your studies are complete, and I think that you will benefit from being around us. I bid you good even, and a peaceful slumber."

"My greatest thanks, your Majesty." he said, bowing again.

"We will enjoy having you around, I think."

_A few months later…_

Seth stood filing some documents for the Priests, carefully and efficiently slotting them into the correct place in the temple archives. He heard voices talking, and slowed down a bit, so as to make out the jumbled words. It was Mahado, and Priestess Isis:

"Honestly Milady, I don't know what can be done about it."

"It cannot stay there Mahado."

"My thoughts precisely, but it won't even let us go near it. As wild a thing as I ever did see."

"Is it strong?"

"Yes. It is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Blacker than that darkest night. It's a big one too - it'll make over seventeen hands easily, eighteen more likely. I also think that it is half Phaetrix."

"A Phaetrix? Are you serious? No wonder it won't let you get near it!" exclaimed the High Priestess.

Phaetrix were magical horses, that were often associated with evil because of their temperaments and colour. They were always jet-black, with long, silky manes and tails. They would sometimes attack humans, and there was a legend that they could unfold wings and fly if they needed to, but reported sightings of such were so scarce, that legend was all it ever remained as.

"Half. Phaetrix. It's certainly big enough. And it had the temperament of a Phaetrix too. I know not what to do." said the distressed Mage.

"A colt?"

"A yearling, I'll wager, but a filly next year."

Seth listened to this conversation with eager ears. Mahado - the best sorcerer and mage - and some of the Palace Magi had tried to bring this horse back to the palace, but it was half Phaetrix and tried to kill them every time they went near it.

Seth had always loved horses. He couldn't remember the first time he had ridden, it was so long ago, but every last minute he had was spent at the palace stables with the horses, exercising them and grooming them. Akunadin had often reprimanded him for coming in filthy from having ridden the horses, but Seth couldn't care less. They were elegant and graceful, each one as different as any human, and they listened and loved. Each and every horse in the palace stables was joint up with Seth, they loved him to pieces. He groomed them and fussed them all day long, he understood them, as they understood him. As a result of this, he was a very talented rider, and could now ride, and not come unstuck from anything he sat on.

He was trusted by the stable masters with any horse, even those of the Priests, who, in their heavy workloads, didn't have time to exercise their horses, and Seth was a firm favourite when it came to getting someone to exercise their horses for them.

Consequently, he rode about six or seven horses a day - not that he minded, he loved it. He wondered if he could get to this horse, and mused upon bringing it back to the palace. He also would like to out-perform Mahado, who, for the past twelve-moon or so , had been Seth's rival in all things magical, martial and equine. Seth's powers had been accelerating fast, as had his fighting skills. Mahado had always been the most talented sorcerer, mage and rider - until Seth came along. They often dueled each other, with Mahado's powers being Pyrokinesis, Levitation and Obstructive Telekinesis, and Seth's being Orbing, Temporal Manipulation **(A/N This is Molecular Manipulation from Charmed - Piper's power, I've changed it to Temporal Manipulation because they didn't know much about molecules in Ancient Egypt lol!)**, Electrokinesis, and many, many more. It was far from unheard of for him to use the odd few Charter Marks either.

Mahado enjoyed the competition, but not the losing however, and it was hard to believe that a thirteen year-old could fight, and defeat, a twenty year-old fully trained mage. However, it was so, and Seth decided that he would try it. He got up and closed his book quietly, and walked up to the Mage and Priestess.

"Your Majesties, I beg pardon, but may I ask you something?"

"Yes. What?" said Isis, keeping her stern prerogative, whereas Mahado looked more interested, and 'on the same wavelength'.

"May I try to retrieve the horse?" he asked, bowing, but not too low, and remaining there while they decided.

"Why not? He's good. I see no harm."

"He may be hurt."

"Milady, he is held in my high esteem." said Mahado.

"Alright. But you will supervise him." she decreed. Seth thanked them and went to ready himself.

"I am still not sure Mahado." she said anxiously.

"Nor I. But he has a gift with the horses Milady, and can naturally form a mutual bond with them. A gift, I think, that might just do him justice."

"Are you sure Seth?" Mahado asked again, just to be sure. Seth nodded, and approached the horse. It was lying down in the scorching Egyptian sun, dehydrated and hungry. It lept to its feet when it saw him and laid its ears back to him - which was understood to mean 'get back'. he took another step towards it, and it stepped back, it didn't run, it hadn't been strong enough to do that in days. He held out his palms, showing it his wrists - as was supposed to mean 'trust me'. It snorted a few times, and pawed at the ground. He took his water carrier from his shoulder and splashed some of the cool water into his cupped hand. He held it out in front of him and took another step toward the horse. It shook its head and pawed again. He took another small pace, and this time, the horse remained still.

"Come on," he coaxed, it was taking more interest in him now and put its ears forward in curiosity.

"Come here," he said softly, but still it didn't move, although it was stretching its head to see if it could reach without moving its feet. Seth smiled and walked quietly up to it, letting it lick the water from his hands. It whickered softly, and he smiled more broadly.

"Good girl," he praised, patting and rubbing its neck. It lent against him and rubbed its head against his side, covering him in dirt and dust. Mahado's eyes widened, he hadn't expected Seth to be able to do it, but the horse seemed to taken a shine to him, and Seth seemed to be able to communicate with it, constantly praising it.

"There's a good girl." he said again, pouring more water from the bottle and giving it to the horse. It was a picture, Mahado thought, of trust.

"How are we taking it back? I haven't brought a halter." he asked the teenager,

"Let's see if she does trust me." he said, "She will follow me if she does." Mahado shrugged his shoulders and rode back to the palace on his own horse, Nix. Nix was a liver-chestnut mare with four whites and stood seventeen hands to the withers. She was the very definition of a moody mare when she was in season, and now, fortunately for Mahado, she wasn't. Seth began to walk after him, occasionally looking back at the horse, gesturing for it to follow him. He got to a few metres away, and it trotted to his side and tried to knock him off balance with its head. He fell to the floor and laughed, getting up and nudging it back. Only to have it nudge harder and send him flying again. He broke into a run and it followed at a canter. It had fantastic extravagant movement, he saw. He ran towards one of the watering pools, and dived in, loving the cool water against his skin. The horse, like, its new-found master, decided to jump in too, and showered the nearby plants with water. Seth laughed out loud again in joy and splashed it with water. It took a long drink, and then sprayed some over him.

"You got attitude have you?" he asked it, "I'll show you attitude!"

It did the flem imposture thing curling its top lip up. This water play went on for a good hour, until the sun began to set, and Seth sat on the side to catch his breath.

"What shall I call you?" he said to himself, contemplating different names for a minute, while it continued to spray him with water.

"I know," he said, "I'll call you Sekhme." Yes, that suited it down to the ground, and he dropped a hand into the water and flicked some more water over its face. It wasn't giving up so easily, and grabbed the edge of his cream-coloured tunic, trying to pull his back in." he felt himself slipping and grabbed the edge.

"No damn it no!" he yelled, but the horse was stonger than him, and he helplessly was pulled back into the water.

"SEKHME!" he yelled, pulling himself out again and standing, sopping wet at the side.

"Come on, out now." he said, pointing at the ground next to him. It looked at him with its head cocked to the side, before obeying and climbing out, shaking all the water off it, giving Seth another shower. He led it to the stable yard and dried it off, before putting it in a stable and going in himself."

"AMUN RA YOU'RE FILTHY!" exclaimed Priestess Isis as he tried to sneak past her, failing, obviously. He shrugged his shoulders,

"Been taming a mad horse." he said, and she rolled her eyes.

"I swear to Ra Seth if you spent anymore time in the stables you would be a horse. And, what did you say you got that horse back here?"

"Yes."

"Well well, I never thought you would! Where is it now?"

"In the barn."

"Oh of course. How long before it can be backed?"

"It's a yearling now, an eighteen-moon perhaps. Who will back and ride it?"

"Well, I considered this, and decided most people were busy, and the horse trusts you, so most people won't do it."

"What do you mean?" he asked, genuinely confused. She smiled,

"I want you to back it."

"What?" he said delightedly,

"You heard. I want you to back it."

"You mean, you want me to train her?" he asked again, pointing to himself, not sure if he should believe his ears. Isis, rolled her eyes again,

"No Seth, I want you to have her."

"What?"

"She is yours. It is about time you had a horse of your own, and I'm sure that you will relish the challenge."

Seth was dumbstruck, he thought that he was only going to bring it back, and that someone like Mahado or Karim would back it.

"Besides," she said, "As soon as the Magi that went to retrieve it yesterday saw it they wanted to be as far away from it as possible. She will be your responsibility."

"That's the best thing you could have given me." he said,

"Impress me." she said, as she turned to go, "Oh, and clean yourself up will you, I've never seen such a mess!"

**Awwww... How sweet... Don't worry I'm not making Seth too OOC, please tell me if you think so!**


	5. Abhorsen

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Again, I have had a mental blank - just read...**

**Chapter Five: Abhorsen**

As the morning got into full swing, the Priests seemed even busier than usual, and a nasty suspense filled the air. A suspense Seth didn't like. A few years had passed since Seth had destroyed the Hall - and now, it was the day of his fifteen birthday. He had grown even more, and now stood at 6ft and 1 inch, and had become much physically stronger. He also had more control over his powers now, and although his status as the Priests' assistant hadn't changed, the people of Egypt considered this long-lost prince to have the same authority as a Priest, and he more than often relieved them of their tasks and duties. The Priests were more like his colleagues and friends now, rather than his superiors. He was even permitted to call them by their first names - an honour that no other fifteen year-old would dare dream about.

Seth sensed that something was wrong - horribly wrong. Priest Iotkh - the Head Mage - seemed to be preparing the Palace Magi, and Priest Karim - the Priest in charge of the army - seemed to be gathering soldiers. Priestess Isis spent much of the morning trying to force premonitions, and High Priest Seclinon and Priests Shaada and Akunadin spent all their time concucting new spells and potions. Something was wrong. Seth put his quill down, and decided to bother Isis about it. He got up and sat himself opposite her, clearing his throat. She opened her eyes and almost looked surprised to see him.

"Seth..." she said,

"Isis, what is going on?" he asked, straight out. She looked at him as if to say; 'you-don't-want-to-know', but he was persistant, and she caved;

"Pharaoh..." she said, "Is gone..."

"What?"

"Kidnapped. With ransom."

"WHAT!"

"I know. We have scryed from him and found a location, but I have Seen his death!" she said despairingly, "A great evil has arisen. They did not name their ransom as such, but they did say to bring all the forces we had."

"I will come!" he declared, "I will fight!"

"No, you are needed to stay here and keep order." she said, "And comfort Prince Atem. He is traumatised, and does not even bid Shimon Mura see him."

"What is this evil?" he asked,

"It is a Free Magic force, one stronger than we have ever faced before..."

"Forgive me for stating the obvious, but if it is a Free Magic evil then shouldn't we look we be pleading to the Abhorsen?" he asked, knowing that it was a bit ridiculous. Whitelighters were scarce enough, let alone Charter Mages, who were now unheard of.

"And what is the Abhorsen? Is there one?" she asked, and he shook his head regretfully. Was there an Abhorsen? Once, maybe, but not now.

Seth did not like being told to stay. He was a whitelighter - he was supposed to protect the Court, and he had to watch them ride off into the distance while he comforted Prince Atem. He clenched his fists under the table.

"Please understand that you are needed here." said Isis, "The Cavalry and Magi are due to depart late even. The footmen and archers will follow, and back them up if necessary."

This made Seth even more uneasy - he knew, as well as the Priests, that only Charter Magic could defeat Free Magic. Unbeknowns to everyone - including the Priests - except Priestess Isis and Mana, Seth had the power of a Charter Mage. A Mark of the Charter burnt upon his forehead. Only in the past ninemonth had he been able to harness that power, but he had it now and could bend it to his will in any way he pleased.

If anyone should be going it was him. And that evening, he found himself doing what his fears had concluded - he watched them ride away, from Sekhme's back. He turned away, and began to organise servants - who, now they weren't under the constant order from Isis or Shaada, were blundering more than ever. Wishing his comrades the luck they were inevitably, going to need.

_Dream..._

_The young man was running again, over the brimstone, never once tripping in the cracks. The voices in his head - his whitelighter senses screaming at him. Why wasn't he orbing? Could it trace him that way? But would he be quick enough? _

The part of Seth that was watching this dream could see more of the man this time. He hadn't had this dream in years, and seemed to be interpreting it more clearly now. He noticed that the man was very young - no older than eighteen or nineteen by his judgement, stood about 6ft 4, and wore the uniform of a High Priest. Very like Seclinon's - but royal blue instead of conifer-green.

Blue.

The colour of the Abhorsen.

He had yet to identify the rod in his hand, but the bell bandoleer and sword at his hilt was unmistakable.

This man was the Abhorsen.

Seth suddenly saw the scene through his eyes - and found himself looking down into the giant crevice, seeing the lava river below.

_End Dream..._

Seth woke up with a start, in a cold sweat, and with stiff muscles. Just like when he was younger, but this time there were more muscles to be stiff. But this wasn't the first of his problems.

He heards the voices. He felt the pain. Their pain. He threw the bedcover off himself and pulled on his clothes, fumbling around in the blackness. He spoke a few Charter Marks and the torch on the wall roared into life. Grabbing his dagger, he orbed out in a cascade of blue lights.

To help them.

Seth orbed into a cavern of black rock, not dissimilar to the one in his dream. He heard voices and sword clashes, and he walked to the edge of what was a cliff cut in the rock.

He saw Seclinon and Iotkh, fighting furiously with two mordicants. Only problem being, their swords were not Charter-spelled, and did very, very little damage. He tried to yell to them, to tell them, but no sound would pass his lips, and his tongue seemed unable to craft the words he was trying so hard to say. At that moment, Mahado joined the fight, but something, Ra only knew what, sent him flying backwards, into a wall, rendering him unconsious.

His feet seemed paralysed and glued themselves to the floor, making him watch, while a breeze blew his chestnut fringe around his royal blue eyes.

The mordicant that was fighting Iotkh used a similar force that was used on Mahado, and knocked Iotkh back,

but Iotkh didn't have such a harmless landing.

His head fell on a piece of jagged rock, and Seth saw blood red seep through his white headdress.

That was enough.

Seth orbed in on the fight.

"Seth you fool you were told to stay at the Palace!" Seclinon snapped,

"And let you get yourselves killed? I don't think so." he said coolly, (**A/N Seth is beginning to come back out of OOCness**)

Seclinon returned the smirk, and both of them fought back. A one sided fight. Seclinon stepped back slightly to watch Seth. He had known about Seth having incredible power, but not Charter Magic! The mordicant screamed and vanquished as Seth cast Marks of destruction and combustion.

"Well aren't you just full of surprises?" he mocked.

"I'm a quick study." he replied. Turning his back and going to heal Iotkh. What happened next was a blur. Seth heard Seclinon shout something, but couldn't make out the words, and he began to turn around again.

Pain exploded and Seth couldn't prevent his voice from sounding. A flamed-knife was sheathed in his young chest, just above his heart, the chill of the cold blade sliding deep into him. His eyes widened in pain and he closed them, knowing that he was dying.

"I failed..." he whispered, "Forgive me..." his voice trailed off into nothing.

He fell backwards, and as his body hit the floor, his soul kept on falling, until he felt the icy presence of Death around him. He felt powerless to move, and let the cold river carry him towards the Nineth Gate.

_"Seth..."_ said something, _"Seth..."_

It was a female voice, warm, comforting. It was no more than a whisper, or a trick of his ears, and echoed amongst the sound of the currented river. Seth felt strengthened by it, and didn't struggle when it raised him from the river and set him upon his feet, the pull of the river lessening around his knees. He looked around, he had never been into Death before - he had never had to. He knew of the Nine Gates and the Stars, but had never seen them. He was in the Fourth Precipice now, and although he had heard the voice so clearly, he could see nothing.

As he wondered what was happening, a golden light began to shine infront of him, illuminating his features with a bright sheen. It took a shape, the shape of a woman. Tall, slim, with a kind, crimson gaze, a pale complexion and tidy, straight black hair. She wore white pantaloons - which was strange, as men only ever wore those, and a blue tunic, with the Cross-Keys on the slight turtleneck collar.

An Abhorsen

But her sword was sheathed, and her bell bandoleer hung over her arm.

"Seth," she said gently, "Do not be afraid."

"Who are you?" he asked slowly, still very, very aware of the pain that had sent him here.

"My name is Sirena." she replied, the angelic glow around her illuminating Death as it had never been illuminated before.

"Why?" he whispered, his breath easily visible in the bitter-cold stillness of Death.

"Now is not your time. Destiny decrees you go back, with these..." she said, offering him her bells. He took a step back, trusting the river not to play a trick on him, as it often did. She orbed it out, and made it reappear, around his waist and across his chest. He didn't remove it, but, to his own surprise, found comfort from it's presence. She then took her sword and scabbard off her hilt and held it out towards him, held horizontally, in the palms of her hands.

"But I'm dead, I cannot..."

"_You _are the Abhorsen now." she said, "You _cannot _pass this way until there is another. Live."

After eyeing it almost suspiciously for a few seconds, he gingerly took the sword from her, and attached it to his own hilt. He pulled it out of the scabbard, just a bit so as to see the blade. Charter Marks shone brightly on the spelled metal. The weight of it felt satisfying in his hand, and he reluctantly sheathed it again. He looked back at her to thank her, but she had gone, he was alone again.

_"Live..."_ he heard, echo throughout Death again.

Not totally sure if what had just happened was a dream or not, he walked back upstream, back into Life.

**He was going back.**


	6. Ask, and ye shall receive

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Chapter Six: Ask, and ye shall receive.**

Seth leant the weight of his soul against the barrier that seperated Life and Death, it bowed slightly, before giving way, and the unmistakable warmth of Life welcomed him gladly, the kind of warmth you only knew if you had come back from the Dead. He felt like he had been tied to the seabed, he was now rising from the depths of the water, flying up towards the air. Suddenly he broke to the surface, and, just as if he had been underwater, he gasped, and filled his lungs with air again.

_"What is it with this out-of-breath thing?" _he thought. The knife was no stuck in him, but it had left a nasty wound, one that Seclinon had obviously tried to heal, but not managed to complete.

A nasty fog had settled in, and Seth could neither see, nor hear anything. The mordicants were gone, but the stench of Free Magic was lying unmoveably on the still air.

"Seclinon! Iotkh!" he called.

No answer.

He spoke a few Charter Marks under his breath, and the fog began to clear, rolling out like it was a rewound version of how it had settled. Seth looked around him, trying to ready himself for what he might see.

What he dearly hoped he wouldn't see.

Iotkh lay where he had fallen, and was the one Seth saw first. Seth didn't have to see anymore to know that the Priest was dead - long gone past the Nineth Gate. He looked around for Seclinon - surely he wouldn't have been killed...

Would he?

Tears welled in his eyes as he saw the conifer-green clad High Priest lying on his side, paled - as possible as it was for an Egyptian - eyes closed peacefully, white cape stained red with blood. He knelt by him, and rolled him on his back, not quite sure if he was dead or not - or rather trying to kid himself that he wasn't. His magic senses told him that he was dead, but Seth put his fingers to his neck desperately for a pulse.

Nothing.

"No..." he whispered painfully, "No..."

He crossed Seclinon's arms over his chest, and stood up, holding his hands over the length of his body.

"Dromo, Squabet, Kufu, Nimesakh." he whispered, drawing the Marks from the Charter. Marks of purification, honour and fire. The body glowed with a red fire, and faded away into nothing. Seth repeated the process for Iotkh, and forced his tears back. Their souls were now untouchable to Evil, and their bodies could not be inhabited by other spirits.

Seth felt an incredible hatred conjure inside him, and narrowed his eyes in determination. No more lives would be lost. And he began to run, in the only direction he could - to where his senses told him the others were.

Seth ran through a series of passages, and his spirits lifted when he heard voices. Their voices. He stopped and peeked around the next corner, keeping his breath quiet and pressing his back against the cold rock.

He could see them.

Isis, Mahado, Shaada, Karim, and Pharaoh Akumumkanon, all behind spelled bars.

But where were Akunadin and Sekhha?

Seeing nothing else, he walked out from his hiding place, with a curt "Pssst!"

Isis' POV...

"Milady, I cannot break this spell, it is Free Magic." I heard Mahado say disappointedly. I raised my head to see the helpless expression on his face.

"Can you not break through it then?" I asked,

"No, anything I throw at it is just deflected back at us." he replied, "I am sorry."

"Where are Sekhha and Akunadin?" I asked, and everybody shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders. Great. Why was I not surprised when I came to the idea that Akunadin had something to do with this? Sekhha had stayed to fight the mordicants at the entrance, with her word that she would catch up with us.

She never had.

I cradled my forehead in my hand tenderly, denying what was more than likely the truth.

"We are as good as dead." Shaada said, admitting defeat. Not something he usually did, but in such situations...

"_No we aren't_." Mahado and I said in unison. Giving him our 'evil eyes'.

"Seth will do something." Mahado finished, attracting daft looks from Karim and Shaada. Pharaoh said nothing, but looked at the ground in thought.

"Seth is a child." said Karim protestingly.

"Seth is my nephew." said Pharaoh in the following silence, clearly disapproving of Karim and Shaada's lack of confidence, "He is less the child than you have ever given him credit for. He may be young, but he has a wise head on young shoulders. He will come through for us yet."

"Do you think he will come for us?" Mahado asked,

"Judging by how difficult it was getting him to stay, I wouldn't be surprised." I replied. Would Seth come? Part of me wanted him to, and the other part wanted him to stay as far away as possible. A very long silence followed, and was eventually broken by Mahado;

"Did you hear that?" he asked, holding his cupped hand to his ear,

"Hear what?"

"I could have sworn... I heard footsteps," he said, straining his hearing further.

"I think you were mistaken." I said.

However, it was I that was mistaken. Mahado was right. There were footsteps.

But whose?

We all strained our necks to see as a shadow appeared. As the figure appeared, our faces lit up,

"Well well!" I exclaimed, "Ask, and ye shall receive."

Normal POV...

"Seth you disobidient child you were told to stay at the palace!" Isis scolded, but she was silenced by the Pharaoh.

"Iotkh and Seclinon are dead..." he said, finding his tearducts filling again.

"Oh no..." whispered Isis, holding her hand over her fallen jaw. The others looked at him in disbelief, and their jaws dropped too when Seth evaded their stares by closing his eyes and hanging his head low.

"How?" asked Karim,

Seth swallowed his emotions and took a deep breath,

"They died fighting." he said slowly, "They died protecting Egypt. As they would have wanted to. Their souls are free."

The others nodded in agreement, and hung their own heads low.

"We have to go." said Seth, "Join hands, I can't orb us out otherwise."

They obeyed questionlessly, but as Seth was about to orb them out, his eyes widened in realisation, like you do when you realised you've forgotton something important.

"Seth? What are you waiting for?" Isis asked.

Seth broke away from the Priests and Pharaoh, and turned around. They looked around in puzzlement, seeing nothing.

"Seth?" she repeated, but he was far away from hearing her now.

_"Abhorsen.."_ said a voice, one that apparently only he could hear. An icy wind blew, and Isis brought her hands up around her arms to keep out the cold. A fire was burning, and blue/black smoke flowing from it's tips. It seemed to be suspended in mid-air, there was no visible source, and the smoke wasn't spreading, it seemed to be forming something. The others could see it now, and Isis had stepped backwards into Karim's protective embrace. The smoke formed a shape, the shape of a woman - tall, slender, but far from human. She was also wearing the pantloons that only men were supposed to wear.

But those, and the rest of her outfit - which was also in the same style as his and Mahado's - were black. Completely black. Seth didn't think it was possible to make fabric jet-black, but he, and the others, stood corrected. She also wore a lot of Egyptian-style make-up, and her black hair was tied in an untidy, tight knot.

"What do we have here?" she said, her voice was darker than he thought it possible for a woman's voice to be. The Priests immediately assembled themselves infront of the Pharaoh.

"You Priests are so pathetic, all you ever do is stand in the way and drop like flies!" she snarled, and threw out her hand.

An unseen force hit the band of Priests, and flung them back into the bars that they had just escaped from. She took a bell from her own bandoleer, and rung it, a deep, commanding tone sounded, and Seth felt his legs become heavy and submissive.

Sareneth. The Binder.


	7. Battle of the Bells

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Chapter Seven: Battle of the Bells...**

"Sleep." she said, prolonging the authority of the bell. Their eyes lolled closed and they fell into a slumber - all except Seth, that was. The command had not been directed at him, however, that did not mean that he was totally immune to it. He felt the persuasive urge to lie down there and sleep, but his conscious mind knew better. He took out his own bell - Dyrim, the Speaker. Dyrim could give voice to anything that could not, or had lost the ability to talk, but it could also still a tongue forever. This was his intention. Will was channelled through the voice, and without one, her power over her Sareneth would be crippled. He flipped the bell to his right hand, not making a sound, and rung it, A joyous, loud, singing tone sounded, reaching her ears.

She began to scream, but her voice quelled midway through, and she clasped at her throat frantically. He then replaced Dyrim in it's pouch on the bandoleer and took out Sareneth, the Binder, which shackled those who heard it to the wielder's will. He rung it, and that deep, authorative voice hit her ears. Seth could tell he was going to like this bell.

"Stay where you stand." he commanded, and her feet rooted themselves to the floor. She struggled distraughtly, her legs feeling like mere sacks of flour - she was completely unable to move from the waist down. He took long strides towards her, which became quicker as she fiddled around for another bell.

She drew Astarael.

The Sorrowful.

The Weeper.

The bell that sent everyone who heard it past the Nineth Gate, even the wielder.

Seth stopped in his tracks, doing some intense thinking. She played with the bell, almost letting it sound, and then catching the clapper, each time in doing so, making him jump uncontrollably. If she rang it that would be it. Death.

He was not going there twice in one day.

She smirked, and he could tell that she would use it as leverage, although how, with no voice, she was going to do that was rhetorical question with a complex answer. He was standing only two metres away from her. She did more tricks with the bell. She didn't have much to lose by ringing it, she couldn't move, or speak, and he could. Or, rather at this moment he couldn't.

_'Move, and you all die.'_ a chilling tone, one he heard in his head, and out of momentary confusion, hit himself on the ear. He could have sworn that that had been her voice. But how? She must be using psychic magic to communicate with him. So in all truth, he hadn't done as much with Dyrim as he had hoped. Still, it had been a start. And he knew that only when combined with Sareneth could Astarael kill the sleeping. Silence filled the surrounding chamber, silence you could cut with a knife.

That gave him an idea. He looked wide-eyed up at the ceiling, let his jaw drop and leapt back, giving every impression of fright, as if he were looking at a mordicant or army of the Dead.

She looked up to see what he was supposedly seeing. For a few seconds, that was all.

The few seconds that cost her her life.

Seth took his chance, and, quicker than he thought himself capable of, he drew the Abhorsen's Blade - his blade - and, putting some spin on it, he threw it as hard as his young biceps would allow.

The sword travelled straight and true, and the spelled metal, burning with Charter Marks, easily sliced through her muscled abdomen. If she had a voice, she would have screamed, and grappled at the blade with her hands, trying to pull it out, but it burnt and blistered her hands everytime she touched the handle. Her muscles stiffened in fright, and the muscles of the hand in which she held Astrarael tightened around the bell's clapper. Seth took the remaining two strides up to her, and took the sword by the handle.

"Like a Charter Mage scorned." he snarled in her ear. He pulled the blade out sharply, and temporarily forgot about the Astarael. She clasped at her stomach, and blue flames began to engulf her. Seth now knew that she would be screaming if she could, and watched mercilessly as her body combusted, and was gone.

But it wasn't over yet.

Far from it.

As she had vanquished, she had dropped Astarael, and in the few seconds after the flames died, the bell hit the ground.

Letting a deep, mourning tone out amongst the chamber. Seth suddenly felt like an earthquake was happening beneath his feet and his body hit by the collosal vibrations. He felt a sudden, overwhelming desire to leave his body, just to let Death take him again, and his soul almost became ajar from his body, like it was tied by a single thread. This was a mental game now. He stood quiet, his eyes closed in concentration, his limbs relaxed, and he listened to the sound of his breathing. He stood like that until the mournful reverberation of Astarael faded and died itself, leaving behind the eerie silence that had so welcomed it. After it had completely died away, he took Yrael - the Merciful - from his bell bandoleer. This bell could undo the work of other bells by the same wielder, and sometimes, even other necromancers' spells and bindings. He rang it in a figure-of-eight motion, and relished the happy, lifting sound it made.

Mahado was the first to wake, a sudden, jolt from the spell and his eyes flashed open. He propped himself up on his elbows, asking Seth what had happened, only to forget his questions when the others all awoke too.

Seth wanted to sleep more than ever now, and felt almost completely drained or physical and magical energy by that nights' events, even though he hadn't had that much physical stress at all. He held his hands out wide, and orbed them all back to the palace.

**Eeeeeeeehhh! That was short, but exciting to write lol! R&R!**


	8. So much for my lie in!

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

Seth woke up too a lighter morning than usual. He was unsure why at first, but then he realised that it was in fact mid-afternoon, and the Egyptian sun was high in the blue sky. He didn't move, but just closed his eyes and relaxed into his bedlinen, the sword and bell bandoleer in his easy reach. He had hoped that he would be allowed to stay there, but, as he discovered, there was no such hope. Mana came around the doorway, pulling back the sheet which served as a door.

"Seth! The Pharaoh craves a word with you!" she said excitedly. Seth groaned and turned over, pulling the cover well over his head, and buried his face deep into the pillow. Why, in Ra's name, couldn't Pharaoh be asleep like everyone else? Possibly because it was at least three hours after midday and he hadn't been stabbed by an athemé, died, come back from Death, killed a necromancer and effectively saved Egypt.

" Seth! Make haste! Do you not see it is urgent?"

"Everything Pharaoh says is urgent." he mumbled through the covers, "Tell him I'm still asleep or something."

Mana rolled her eyes, in very slight disgust, but more from Seth's typical demeanour. She silently crept around to the end of his bed, and, grabbing the end of the covers, tried to yank them off him. Although she didn't pull them off him - as a part of her had hoped - she made him sit up in an attempt to keep them on him. She giggled and he threw a hex at her feet, deliberately missing.

"Tell Pharaoh I'm coming." he sighed in defeat, and he watched her back retreat through the doorway.

_In the throne room_

"My Pharaoh, you requested my presence?" he asked with politeness, bowing, though not as low as he had done in his earlier youth. The Pharaoh smiled discreetly,

"Come and take a turn about the gardens with me," he said, "I must discuss something with you."

_In the palace gardens _

"Firstly, I wish to thank you, for saving my Priests and myself," he said, "Secondly, I wish to congradulate you on coming to your power as the Abhorsen."

"Thank you your Majesty." said Seth, not looking at him, but looking straight ahead, as he had learnt to do, making his long strides somewhat shorter so as to let Pharaoh keep up with him. He kept his back straight - not that it wasn't always straight - but not rigidly, and kept his chin up, but not high - an air which made him look incredibly elegant. Both strong, and contained.

"Thirdly," Pharaoh continued, "I wish to talk about Seclinon."

Seth lowered his gaze from what lay ahead of him to the blades of grass that would within the next step be under his feet.

"Seclinon died as he would have wished it. He was a brave and noble man, and a bigger credit to this Court than I can describe in words. He served Egypt for longer than I have, ans his soul will now rest in the peace of the Afterlife."

"He was like a mentor to me, since after I destroyed the Great Hall." said Seth.

"He held you in very high esteem too." said Pharaoh calmly, now being the one to look directly in front of him. Seth did look around at him at this, "He often spoke to me of your intelligence and talents. You do remind me of him, you two were very similar. He spent more time singing your praises than any other youngster, that is certain."

Seth remained silent, and wished the short silence that followed away. Pharaoh continued,

"He had hoped, that you would take his place some day."

Seth shook his head as if to clear his ears, not sure if he had heard that correctly. Was he hinting at something here?

"How stand your dispositions to have a hierachial occupation?" he asked.

"What?"

"Would you do me the honour, Seth, of taking Seclinon's place, as the High Priest of Egypt?"

Seth stood dumbstruck, not even able to move his feet from the ground. The High Priest? Him!

"I am but fifteen..." he began,

"And quite formidable. Seclinon was not the only one singing your praises, as a matter of fact. You may be yet, dare I say, a child, but you have shown the valour and competance of a man. And I have heard rumours of your depth and ease of tremendous wit. An accomplished Mage and sorcerer with an eloquent mind on top."

"I would like to be able to accept those compliments, but... surely there are others more worthy of it than me."

"Isis is to be promoted to the position of High Priestess, and would be your main comrade. Iotkh is to be replaced by young Mahado. My trust of Akunadin wavers and Shaada and Karim are best suited to their current positions. Besides, you are old enough to know that age and efficiency are not necessarily entwined. And, if anybody asks your age, just reply one-and-twenty, no foreign priest would ever know."

"Well..."

"What say you?"

Seth thought for a moment. Would he be able to cope with running the country? It was a strenuous job, he knew, and would he be taken seriously in his small age?

"My Pharaoh..." he said finally, "It is an honour, to accept your offer."

Pharaoh Akunumkanon smiled, and turned to walk back to the palace.

"You will rise to the challenge." he said, returing to the palace, and leaving Seth in the garden. He crossed his legs and sat down on the lucious green grass, and listened to the breeze whistling through the branches of the palm-trees that cast their dark shadow over his still growing form. A part of his dream recurred to him, and his heart slowed as realisation dawned apon him.

The Abhorsen in his dream...

Had been himself.

**END ?**

**I thought that was quite a nice place to stop. If you have any ideas about what I could write next, please tell me! I could introduce Kisara and have him falling in love with her, what you peeps think? R&R (And no, I don't write yaoi or yuri!)**

**A special thanks to Isis the Sphinx who has reviewed religiously throughout this fic. A big black horse to you!**

**Thank you also to Skidoodle-Snickerdoodle! love you guys lots!**


	9. In truth when true emotion come

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Chapter Nine: In truth when true emotion come...**

**_Three years later_ (A/N: Atem is now Pharaoh... God help the Egyptians... fortunately he only rules the country, he doesn't run it - that's Seth and Isis' job, so they're okay really lol! By the way, 'Seth' is pronounced 'Set' - it sounds much more Egyptian and I know some peeps don't like the name Seth. Oh, and 'Sekhme' is pronounced 'Sek-mee'... Okay dokey then...)**

High Priest Seth once again, found himself wondering through the streets of Cairo aboard his horse Sekhme. Sure enough, she had made eighteen hands, the biggest horse in the palace, however she was the right size for him, and there was no place he would rather be than galloping through the Egyptian grasslands with her. Her black coat gleamed in the sun, and she dwarfed the horse that followed; a smaller bay horse, ridden by Priest Shaada. They were going to investigate some happenings in the poorer suburbs. The tale was that an outlandish-looking girl had turned up from nowhere, and was being terrorised for her appearance. Of course, he didn't know if it was true, but he had heard it said so many times.

"I see nothing Seth." said Shaada, looking around him, the Millennium Key glistening around his neck.

"Let's look a little more." he replied, "I don't like to think that we will go back with nothing when what we were looking for was right around the next turn."

"I agree, but how many 'next turns' are there in this town Seth?"

"Many. And I would search every one." he replied, effectively shutting up the Priest.

He nudged Sekhme on around the corner, and was confused at the sight. The immediate path was completely deserted, not a person in sight. It looked like everyone had just packed-up and left. He halted Sekhme in front where the road branched off into two, and she pawed at the ground impatiently, trying to take him down the left one. Shaada's horse drew level with her.

"Take that one." Seth ordered, pointing to the right path. Shaada was quick to comply. Seth let his restricting hold on the horse slack a bit and - not needing a leg aid - she broke into a jog down the left path. This too, was deserted. He slowed her into a walk and continued, all he could hear was her hoofbeats against the stone, echoing where there shouldn't be an echo. Sekhme was very uneasy and flinching at the slightest gust of wind that blew through the street - very unlike her. She could be flighty, he knew too well, but the constant snorting wasn't normally part of it. Seth wished that he knew what she did, because the sense of his own ignorance here was apparent - there was clearly something wrong, but he was at ends as to what. It also seemed to be getting colder, yes, the street was shadowed, but not horrendously so. He felt a shiver travel down his spine - remembering that being used to the heat of Egypt, the cold, especially in the late afternoon, was very disturbing. He had been outside at night when it was colder than this and he hadn't shivered, so, why was he shivering now?

The wind blew, raising the sand about Sekhme's legs, and she started trying to do elevated trot to avoid it - fantastic, Seth thought, but not appropriate for now. He pushed her through it, listening to the wind about his ears. It hit the edges of walls and buidings, making a sweet singing noise. Seth didn't start to worry - until, that is, he could make out words through the gale. He halted Sekhme again, and listened intently. It was a woman's voice, sweet, and sounded as if it should have been calming, but it sounded panicked and distressed.

_No, don't go..._

The voice said, unnerving him a bit, only just audiable on the fierce breeze, coming as quickly as it had left.

_Why are you leaving? ..._

Charter Magic roared into life, the Charter Mark on his forehead glowed, heating the gold of the headdress that concealed it. He drew a bell - Sareneth, his firm favourite - from his bandoleer, and, holding Sekhme's reins in his right hand, and the bell's clapper in his left, he squeezed at her sides gently with his legs and she broke into a collected canter.

_Please don't leave me... _

_Please don't... ... ..._

He let Sekhme go into a fast canter, putting his weight to the right and leaning forward slightly for balance as they sped around a corner. He strengthened his lower-leg, bidding her go faster. She did so gladly, and he raised his seat slightly, to take the weight off her back, as she reached her full speed.

And I can tell you...

That was bloody fast.

As blood pulsed through his ears, the voice became louder, and he began to feel a sad panging at his heart - like he had been left on his own and couldn't make anyone listen. He hated it.

Suddenly, the voice stopped, and the wind subsided. He slowed Sekhme back down again, bringing her to a walk. His white cloak that had been suspended on the busy air before now lay quietly over the horse's quarters. He looked around suspiciously, and a miniscule movement, out of the corner of his eye, made him whip around, the bell ready in his hand, the clapper ready to fall. He didn't sense any Free Magic, or any evil, for that matter, but there was safety in cloaking spells...

Behind a rather disorganised assembly of dark-brown wooden barrels, in the shadows of the surrounding houses, a clever beam of light, that had eluded the shadows, broke through the gaps in the buildings and fell across the face of a girl.

A weak, beaten girl - not much younger than himself.

She had skin paler than he had ever seen before, steely blue hair, which fell in her eyes and well past her waist, and deep blue eyes, not dissimilar from his own, he thought. She was tall - about 5ft 7 at a glance **(I know Kisara is shorter but if I told you why, well, that would be telling wouldn't it? taps nose and grins wickedly)**, slim, and, a semiconscious part of him thought, very beautiful.

He shook his head in denial - he didn't have time to be admiring young women. Especially poor young women who lay on street corners. He dismounted from Sekhme, with the command to stay where she was, and took a closer look, kneeling by her side. She was weak and dehydrated, and ugly purple bruising was easily visible on her pale complexion. He held his hands over the more obvious wounds, and used his healing powers to make them disappear under a caring, soothing golden glow of magic. The cuts and bruises faded into nothing, and she began to stir, turning her face into her hair slightly. He reached for his water carrier, and poured some of the cool, clear fluid down her dry throat. He watched contentedly as he saw her swallow it gladly.

She opened her eyes slowly, waiting for her vision to come into focus. She felt a powerful presence. Powerful, very powerful, but warm, and compassionate. She propped herself up on her elbows, ignoring her stomach's empty complaints, and, on seeing her rescuer, and recognising him, she scrambled back against the wall, which acted as the only sufficient support.

"Hi... High Priest Seth..." she gasped and stuttered, wishing more than ever that the wall would swallow her. He stood up, with a stern face, but his eyes were kind, and he gave what could only be defined as a 'half a smile'. And, on seeing the bellbandoleer and the sword - the signiture tools of the Abhorsen - she felt an overwhelming nervousness in her heart and muscles, like she was drowning,

"Abhorsen..." she whispered, just as the wind had, and she saw blue shapes sneak uncontrollably across her vision.

Seth gave a 'half smile', and called for Sekhme to come closer. She called him by his title - or both of them, he thought. He saw a confusion in her eyes, and then a clouded murkiness, and they fell shut, and she on her side. Out cold. What was it with him and people fainting? he wondered. **(A/N Could be because Seth is sooooo damn hot! But we don't tell him that. coughhe is hot stuffcough)**

He heard the voice on the wind again;

Abhorsen...

_Abhorsen..._ it whispered eerily.

It was her voice that had ridden on the wind.

Ridden on the wind to his ears.

However he didn't think that he had been hearing her actual cries, he thought that he had been hearing her thoughts and reflections - her despair, in other words. He understood now. The people had left because of her. He sensed a great power inside her, locked away from her grasp, uncontrolled. Maybe they had sensed that too. It was now, however, unimportant. He knelt down again and slipped his strong arms under her delicate form, lifting her up, almost astonished at how light she was. It made him feel strange - he felt like it was his duty to protect her and care for her, and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. He suddenly felt the unfamiliar and perplexing urge to lean down and kiss her, but he hit this impulse head on, and shook his head, abstaining from it. He walked over to Sekhme, who, as an intended greeting, nudged her affectionately, and then nudged him. He patted her neck, and, took hold of her reins. It was going to be difficult riding back to the palace with an unconscious girl over his shoulder - orbing was a much better prospect. Though what would he do with her?

Seth orbed into his own chamber - yes, horse and all - and laid the girl down on his bed, putting the covers over her softly. He then took hold of Sekhme's reins again and orbed back down to the stables, where he met a rather pissed off Shaada:

"Seth! Where in Hell did you get to!" he almost shouted, although he was having to restrain himself from it.

"My apologies, but in such circumstances I may be excused." he said somewhat challengingly, putting Sekhme's saddle - which consisted of a few buckles, some stirrups and a cloth with the royal insigna and the Abhorsen's Cross Keys embroidered on the panel - and bridle back into the tackroom.

"And what circumstances would these be?" he asked, trying not to sound too brave. Although Seth was a good deal younger than he was, he was a rank higher in the hierachy, and, as many knew, provoking him was not a good idea.

"I'm not quite sure. I'll tell you when I can answer that question to myself." he replied, orbing out, leaving Shaada standing in the courtyard, a very confused priest. He orbed back up into his chamber again, and found the girl still asleep. He sat by the side of the bed, and put the sword, bell bandoleer and Millennium Scepter down, in easy reach, and took some time to answer his own questions.

What the hell had possessed him to bring her here? He could have sent her to the servants, who could have given her a bed, so why had he brought her here? Her outlandish appearance had grown on him, and she became more beautiful every time he looked at her.Was it puerile lust? Or did he feel more?

What would the other Priests say? He had no intention to tell Karim Shaada or Akunadin, but Isis and Mahado would drag it out of him. Sooner more probably than later. And, perhaps more importantly, what would they think of her? Would they take pity like him? Or would they disown her as the peasants had done. Personally, he thought that they had more sense, but where would that sense take them?

And, what was he going to do with her? She couldn't stay in his chamber day and night, and he when giving her to the palace servants crossed his mind he felt like shielding her - not from the servants, their life wasn't at all bad, but for some very strange reason, he wanted better for her. WHY? He hung his head into the palm of his hand, and in doing so, his gaze fell on the inscriptions on his golden armbands. He had never really noticed them before, he knew that they were there, sure enough, but he had never taken any more attention of them. He turned his wrist a bit, so as the hieroglphs caught the fading light. They told some ancient magic lore;

_'Mufaskh kem, optkh hu kya aret, bin bdehiskh...'_ **(A/N: This is all gibberish it has no meaning whatsoever!) **he read under his breath, _'Jaq kufu aalkt mufaskh nij paaruqukh...'_

This translated as: **(A/N: as I said, unless you live in my deranged world from which this fic was concucted, - highly unlikely - there is no real translation. If you do, well, what can I say...) **

_'From our emotion come our strengths, and from our strengths come forth our flaws, yet in truth, when true emotion come, lie there the depths of true ardour.' _he repeated it a few times in his head. It was supposed to mean 'our emotion is the key to our strengths - which can be interpreted as powers - and weaknesses, but in truth, when our hearts are truly roused, true love lies in both.'

How weird, he thought, of all the things they could have put there, and they had to put that! He had to get a new set of these. He watched her as the light faded into night and as the scarlet-orange light of the sunset that had fallen through the window, colouring her hair and skin with it's radiance, changed into the silver glow of the moon, which, he noticed, was full - marking the end of what they called a new 'full-moon' - or month, to us. A 'half-moon' was two weeks, a 'cresent-moon' was one week, and, as we know, there were seven full sun rotations in a cresent-moon. Water clocks and dials measured the time more accurately, and there was always a scribe - sometimes Shaada did this - who specialised in horology - keeping the time. Although between the sun set and rose it was close to impossible, that is if you weren't the scribe keeping the time, to keep track of the time. Seth was no exception. He too, had no idea of how late it was, and, after giving a few close-ish guesses, he fell asleep in his chair.

_The next morning..._

_KISARA'S POV_

Hmmm... Where am I? What happened? All I remember is the High Priest... the Abhorsen... whoever he is, standing over me, and then I fainted. I wanted to open my eyes, to see where I was, but something told me that it would be too good to believe - the sheets between which I was lying, so soft, I never felt such luxury in my life! I heard a birdsong, but not the cockrel's crow as I normally did, but the sweet singing of swallows, and, not too far away, a lark. I turned over, still not opening my eyes, kidding myself that I was still asleep, which wasn't difficult. The air I was inhaling was sweet and clean, unlike the dusty, stale air I was used to. I rubbed my eyes gently, opened them, and promptly shut them again at the intrusion of the early morning light. Daytime hallucinations passed over my closed eyes, and I waited for them to clear, before opening my eyes again, and then waiting again for my vision to focus.

It seemed to take forever, and in that time, I couls see that I was somewhere I shouldn't be - in a highly decorated room - the kind I only ever imagined the Pharaoh and maybe the Priests having. It was beautiful, I felt like a wretch just being there. I heard a soft breath beside me, one I knew wasn't mine - it was masculine and deep. As I saw more, my gaze focused on a close blue shape - a shape that took the form of a man's body. I followed it upwards, and saw the gold and blue of a chestplate and headdress...

_Amun Ra..._

_High Priest Seth..._

Asleep. Eyes lightly shut, head lolled slightly forward onto his chest. He looked so angelic... then I mentally slapped myself on the forehead - he _was_ an angel, he was a whitelighter. **(A/N: I know in Charmed whitelighters are dead but for the benefit of this fic Seth is most definately alive. He's half witch, half whitelighter, but -here's another twist- in this fic, Charter Mages have every 'specialist' power, not just a few, eg:- Electro-Mental Ignition or Premonition. So Seth kicks arse! Woohoo!) **

A very handsome whitelighter...

No! Don't go there!

I had never seen him before, but his attire was unmistakable, his air too, it was almost pure magic, and he looked sophisticated and eloquent, even in slumber. I tried my best not to gasp so loud as to wake him up, however my movements betrayed me and his eyes fluttered open. He looked up, wide awake, as if he had never been asleep in the first place, straight at me. I nearly fell off the bed.

"Good morrow." he said quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. Sleeping in a chair all night can't of done him much good. I started scrambling again and bowed as low as I could.

"Your Majesty..." I said, very nervously. I could tell he was looking at me as if to say 'are-you-daft?'

"What is your name?" he asked, not softly, but not harshly either,

"Kisara." I replied simply, not daring to look him in the eye. I clutched the bedlinen as if I were trying to strangle it, my knuckles turning white. He got up, and straightened his back, taking him to his full height. Amun Ra, I had never felt smaller than I did then. His piercing, yet at the same time majestic deep blue eyes almost burning holes in me. I cowered as if he were going to hit me, and I almost kidded myself into expecting a hit, but it never came and I relaxed a little.

"Come with me." he said, walking towards the door, covering the distance in little more than four strides. I stood up, my legs feeling like jelly. He held the door for me and I hurried through, trying desperately not to look at him. He said nothing more, and I wondered where he was taking me. To the dungeon probably. That was my life. One dungeon after another. This High Priest seemed no different. He was rumoured to be the strictest of the Priests and anecdotes of his being cold and merciless also circulated among the other peasants. So why had he brought me to the palace, of all places?

Eventually, we reached the scullions, and I thought he was just going to shove me in, but he put out his hand as a gesture to let him past. He walked into the room and all the noise and commotion that had wafted from the room before quelled at his entrance. I looked around his shoulder, and saw all the servants, who had frozen, some of them with their arms emersed in suds.

"Where is Mana?" he said coolly. A girl, a bit younger than me - fourteen or so - with bushy dark brown hair and dark green eyes grabbed a drying cloth and came out from behind her washing-up station, drying her arms as she went. She dumped the cloth on a nearby surface, and bowed low before him.

"Your Majesty, what is your will?"

"Come here a second Mana. Go back to your work." he said, turning his attention from her for a split second to the servants, who had failed to retake up their tasks at the appearance of the young High Priest. Mana followed him out confusedly, occasionally turning back to look at her comrades in reassurance, some of which didn't dare look up again. All that could be heard now was the scraping and placing of the crockery, not a word came from the room.

"Mana, I have a friend for you." he said, standing to the side so I could no longer hide behind him. Damn. "This is Kisara."

"Hello." said Mana, giving a bright smile and nodding in acknowledgement. I smiled timidly and nodded back. She was not as tall as me, only about 5ft 3, but I still felt the smallest out of the assembly.

"Mana, please take care of Kisara. She will be your responsibility. Take her to your lessons, your chores, make her as welcome as you can. She will be staying here until further notice."

"Oh, of course. Thank you." she said. She hadn't called him 'your Majesty' or 'your Highness', as was the cast-iron rule when you had to speak to a Priest. Maybe she knew him personally. Seth... the High Priest... whoever he is, walked off down the corridor and climbed the steps to the Priests' workplace, out of sight. Mana shook her head in ridicule and turned to me, smiling brightly again.

"Wow..." she said, following the retreating High Priest with eager eyes. "What happened to him?"

"What do you mean?" I asked,

"Seth isn't famed for his compassion. Did you do something to him?" she asked daftly, I shook my head,

"No."

"If you did I want to find out what it was and copy it." she waffled. I smiled, she was a character indeed. We walked up to Mana's room and she collapsed on the bed.

"Amun Ra! I am exhausted! And it's only midday!" she complained, her voice muffled by the bedcovers. "So, what did you do to Seth?"

"Nothing!" I protested.

"Do you think he's nice?"

"Nice?" I asked. Nice wasn't the word for it.

"You know, handsome?" she asked as if it was nothing. My cheeks turned red at the thought.

"Well... yes... yes he is." I forced out. I had never thought much of men before, I had had girlish crushes before that had lasted a grand total of a few hours, and I had never had someone to discuss it with.

**(A/N: Oh Kisara, will you ever learn?) **Mana sat up, a grin on her face. The grin that would paint the face of any teenage girl.

"Do_ you _like him?" I asked her, and she pulled a face, waving her hand.

"I used to, and, he is the best looking man here, no question, but he has an unvouchable temper and an icy demeanour. And, there are the mage-apprentices, who are also rather nice, if I do say so. He's also older than me."

"How old is he?" I asked. The question had been bugging me since I first saw him. He was the kind of person who could have been eighteen, could have been five-and-twenty.

"Eighteen." she replied. That came as a shock. Eighteen!

I thought he was much older!

"You thought he was much older?" she said.

"Yes."

"He acts older than he is, and his height and build is very deceiving also."

"How old are you?"

"I'm fourteen. And yourself?"

"Sixteen."

"Ahh. So, how did you get here?"

"The part of the town I came from, I had been there for only a few days, but everyone looked at me as if I were evil, and they packed up everything and left. I asked and asked why, but they wouldn't speak a word to me. Within a day, everyone was gone, and I was left. I stayed for another day, but I became dehydrated and there was no water nearby - everyone got their water from the oasis a few miles walk away, and I didn't want to go, for fear of running into them, and I knew that no one would have been stupid enough to move further away from the water supply. I just stayed where I was. I wanted to die then." I said, swallowing what felt like guilt. Mana looked up with puppy dog eyes and tightened her lower lip. I continued;

"So I just stayed there. I was unconcious for much of the time, and then, I heard a horse's hoofbeats approaching. I was too weak to move, I could open my eyes though, and that's when I saw the High Priest..."

"Just refer to him as Seth between us two." said Mana, " 'The High Priest' is such a mouthful." I nodded in agreement,

"...Seth. He had a beautiful black horse..."

"Yeah, that's Sekhme. Sorry, continue."

"I passed out again, and woke up in his chamber..."

"WHOA WHOA WHOA! You woke up in _his _chamber?" she asked, almost falling off the bed.

"Well, yeah I guess so. In the bed..."

"This gets better and better! Was he lying next to you when you woke up?" she asked intently. I gave her a mock-punch.

"No! He was in a chair by the bed..."

"Oh. I was going to say you nearly got lucky there girl! ... OW!" I punched her again, harder this time. She sat up again and rubbed her arm. "That hurt!" I ignored her and carried on;

"And, I think he healed me." I said quietly, "I had bruises galore when they deserted me. When I woke up I thought I'd died and gone to heaven."

"How strange. Seth is never like that to anyone. I wonder why..." she trailed of into thought, while I, had to try and decipher it... That was going to take a while.

**There's chappie nine! Please review people!**


	10. Mana's a demon!

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Chapter ten: "Mana's a demon!"**

_Later that night... (Normal POV)_

"Here you go." said Mana, throwing a pillow to Kisara, who caught it and put it down on the spare mattress that Mana had given her. She sat down on it and listened to Mana complain about the complexity of the magic Mahado was trying to teach her.

She had to laugh.

Some of the results of the spells that went awry were hilarious. Especially the time when Mana had accidentally hexed Priest Karim, who, in delusion, had got on the wrong side of High Priestess Isis. She had punched him on the nose, and because of the hex, he made no attempt to block it, and just stood there while she almost broke his nose. Poor Karim. Seth and Mahado, who had both been in attendance, had laughed their heads off, and they would never let him live it down. Odd comments such as; 'How's the nose?' and '...air deprivation' were common, and Seth and Mahado loved to milk it for all it was worth. Karim, however, was not so amused, and even blushed when it was mentioned. From embarrassment, surely, for it was one of the worst humiliations a man could suffer, and also, as Mana had whispered in Kisara's ear, Karim had a fancy for Isis. Kisara was unsure whether to believe this or not, as it was just Mana's personal depiction, but Mana was adament. Kisara opened her mouth to say something in return, but stopped the sound from coming out as a strange sound met her ears. Mana looked up, hearing it too. It sounded like a cow-bell, and a voice could be heard from somewhere near it. Both girls ran up to the top landing - where the High Priests' and the Pharaoh's chambers were.

"Aahh-salem-sala-mundo! Aahh-ma-damasal-mundo!" came a funny cry. Mana and Kisara looked along the corridor to see pitch blackness, and jumped back when they saw a light being lit, first in Seth's chamber, and not long after, Isis'. After a few minutes, both High Priests walked out of their rooms, half dressed, and wiping their weary eyes. Isis looked positively done in, whereas Seth, who possibly didn't suffer such fatigue due to his youth, didn't look quite so tired. Isis was wearing her normal dress with her shawl-thing, but she had no headdress or bracelets and the Millennium Tauk was nowhere to be seen. He straight black hair gleamed in the dim light and she tied it in a loose knot to keep it off her face. Seth was wearing his blue tunic and white pantaloons and shoes, but his headdress had been abandoned, revealing straight, chestnut hair which fell around his eyes and looked ever so slightly dishevelled. His blue and gold chestplate was also gone, and he couldn't be asked to fasten the few buttons at the top of his tunic, so it fell open, baring a glimpse of his well-muscled chest...

Kisara was glad that it was reasonably dark, because she could feel her cheeks turning scarlet again.

All of them looked up towards the stairway that led to the roof, and, moreover, who descended it.

The short figure of Pharaoh Atem was seen walking slowly down the stairs, cow-bell in one hand, inscense in the other. Atem was short - only 5ft - had a good figure, and a handsome face, but, Kisara found herself thinking, none of these features seemed to be as perfect as Seth's, and Seth was obviously more physically developed and easily twice as strong. Kisara shook her head as she felt the blush return. She thought, as did they all, that Atem would stop when he got to them. He didn't. As he walked past them, a curt 'hello' was all they received. Seth looked at him as if he was going to murder him, and followed him. He shot a jinx at the Pharaoh, but he was already around the corner, and it died as it his the wall. Seth picked up his own pace a bit, and the others followed him.

"Atem! ATEM!" he shouted after his cousin.

"What? What? What!"

"You're polluting the place what is that crap!" **(A/N: I know this is a scene from Charmed but it's one of my favs & I had to put it in, slightly altered of course lol.)**

"The strongest purification I could find." he replied, wafting the inscense around in the air, "I am cleansing the palace."

"In the middle of the night?" Isis lamented.

"And the fact that you can't yet get into the Book of Shadows doesn't dampen your spirits does it?" Seth asked maliciously. Atem scowled. The Book of Shadows was weird, evil couldn't touch it, and inexperienced sorcerers couldn't read it's contents. Unfortunately, Atem came under the catagory of 'inexperienced', and the Book would not reveal itself to him, whenever he looked at it the pages were completely blank. What was worse, was that Seth had been able to read it since he was thirteen. At nearly eighteen, he still saw nothing on the pages.

"Well, this had better work, because this residual evil is taking on a life of it's own. Look!" he said hurriedly, holding up his wrist to show an golden armband, "When I woke up, I was wearing this I was not wearing it when I went to bed!"

"I'll vanquish it in the morning Atem." he said,

"I am sick of it! This place needs some serious Feng Shui-ing!" Atem said, waving the incense around, making Seth wrinkle his nose in disgust at the smell.

"Give me that!" said Seth, seizing the incense and cowbell from Atem, holding it above his head to relieve them of the reek.

"As the Elders said they're just pests, and it'll go away... by... itself..." said Isis, trailing away as a plant pot floated in front of them. Things began to vibrate and jump off tables and a haunting voice echoed throughout the passage. Various items smashed, and Atem suddenly gasped and yelped as a spirit-thing grabbed him from behind and hoisted him into the air. Seth's eyes widened and he raised an eyebrow as the thing carried Atem to the high ceiling.

"Atem!" Seth and Mana said in unison. Isis gestured for Seth to give the incense and cowbell to her,

"Seth blow it up!" she said, not taking her eyes off the floating Pharaoh and poltergeist-thing. Seth flicked his wrists, and Mana and Kisara jumped as the sound of smashing wood and stone hit their ears.

"Whoa..." said Atem. Seth's attack had very nearly hit him, as the poltergeist was behind him. Dust and bits of brick fell about them, and Seth fired again, another narrow miss. Atem looked around, scared stiff, at the hole Seth had blown in the ceiling as more brick fell on him.

_"Lightning, poltergeists don't like lightning..." _Seth muttered under his breath, and numerous lighning bolts shot from his hands, hitting the poltergeist, but unluckily, Atem was on the receiving end too. To Seth, it had been a petty hit, Atem, however, thought differently. Both he and the poltergeist screamed as it surged through them, and the poltergeist swayed and disappeared into the wall, Atem, of course, hitting the wall, and fell to the ground.

"Oh..." exclaimed Isis, as Atem sat up, feeling like his body was on fire,

"You were saying?" he said in annoyance, as Seth and Isis looked somewhat guilty.

"Are you alright?" asked Mana through gritted teeth.

"No! I feel like I've been struck by lightning!" he moaned.

"Well, you kinda have..." said Mana, taking Atem's scowl as a signal to shut up.

"Well, I can get up at least." he said, standing. "Ugh... Or down..." he said, putting his hand to his eyes, and falling down again.

"It's the shock, it's speeded up his mind and the signals from it are going too quickly for his body to initially respond. He needs to sleep and wait for the effects of it to wear off." said Seth to Isis, who nodded in a business-like way.

"You think?" said Atem,

"Would you rather still be hovering up there? Because I can put you back up there quite easily." said Seth impatiently. Atem shook his head quickly, and Seth nodded, which was supposed to mean; 'well then?'

"Fine, I'll do a purification now." Seth grumbled, "Take him back to his chamber." he said to Isis, who whispered a spell, which picked Atem up and he floated back to his room, this time under Isis' dictation.

"Mana, Kisara, go with Seth and help him." Isis instructed, "I will be with you shortly." They nodded, and took off down the corridor to the Potion Pantry at a jog to keep up with Seth.

"Right, we need some dragonroot, sage, thyme, black poppy, some cadion I think, snakeskin, mandrake root, aaaand some meadow fescue." said Seth confidently, as he filled the cauldron with water and snapped his fingers briskly, making flames materialise from the long-cold stakes underneath it. Mana went to the shelves and gathered various pots, whereas Seth went to the other side of the room and picked jars up from the other side. Kisara saw the book on the lecturn,

"Do you need the Book your Majesty?" she asked politely. He shook his head in decline.

"No, I know the the stuff. Manifestations..." he said. Mana puffed out her cheeks in acceptance, with a miniscule doubt that he did, and Kisara shrugged her shoulders. However, as he began to put things into the cauldron, she stood corrected.

"How can you be so sure it wasn't a poltergeist. It certainly didn't like getting zapped, that's for sure." said Mana.

"Yes, but poltergeists are spirits, this was a manifestation."

"Of what? Barbez' evil energy?"

"Not just Barbez, but every bit of evil we've vanquished here. It seems to be collecting into some kind of being."

"Okaaay." she said uncertainly.

"Mana, can you prepare some of that mandrake root for me? Slice the root and roll it in the black poppy seed." he asked, not taking his eyes from the contents of the cauldron. Mana picked up a small bronze knife, and began to slice the mandrake root. Seth looked up for a second, and walked over to Mana.

"When you slice, make sure the meat is visible because it won't work with the other ingredients otherwise. Use the knife at an angle so the surface area is increased when you cut. And don't roll it in the poppy seed too heavily, lightly, we aren't trying to inverse the place." he said, smiling slightly.

"How do you know all this?" asked Mana,

"I had to study the Book." he said simply.

"Sounds frightning to me."

"When you've studied the Book of the Dead, then you can tell me that."

"The Book of the what?"

"Nevermind."

As Abhorsen, he has to study the necromantic Arts." said Kisara. Seth looked impressed, and Mana grinned at Kisara's newfound boldness.

"That is correct. How did you know that? No one knows that."

"The Abhorsen is the only sorcerer who can combine Charter Magic with Free Magic, so it does to have sufficient control and knowledge of both."

"That's a lot of magic!" exclaimed Mana, nearly dropping her mandrake root.

"What powers do you have Mana, I forgot to ask you." said Kisara.

"Telekinesis, Levitation, and Thought Projection - but that's very weak."

"Have you gone Obstructive Telekinesis yet?" asked Seth,

"No! I can barely lift a person by Telekinesis let alone throw one back!"

"I see."

"What are your powers your Majesty... I mean, if you weren't the Abhorsen, what would you have?" asked Kisara.

"Temporal Manipulation is my signiture power, I also have Electrokinesis **(A/N: Energy balls are included in Electrokinesis)**, Electro-Mental Ignition **(A/N: electrically shocking someones' subconscious mind. Always fatal)**, Orbing, Healing, Shapeshifting, Reconstitution, Cryokinesis **(A/N: Being able to create and manipulate the cold)**, Pyrokinesis, and Clairvoyance."

"Wow..." said Mana, "...That's a very long list."

"Your Maj..." Kisara began,

"And call me Seth." he said, "Not your Majesty, not Abhorsen. Just Seth. Just because I'm the High Priest doesn't mean that I don't in fact have a name."

"...Seth..." she said nervously, "You're a whitelighter aren't you?" _'A very handsome whitelighter'_ echoed through her mind.

"I am."

"Then how do you have the powers of Temporal Manipulation and Pyrokinesis and Cryokinesis and Clairvoyance? They're witch powers" she waffled. He threw an ingredient into the cauldron and stirred it, as if he were coaxing the purple vapour that the potion gave off to the air.

"I'm half witch, half whitelighter." he said finally, looking at both girls.

"But... but, ...that's forbidden isn't it?" asked Mana, jaw dropping with this newfound information.

"It is." he said. Whitelighters were forbidden to have any kind of relationship with their charges that came under any other catagory than 'friendship'. The Elders worried that the offspring of the two types of good magic; the good-hearted, angels **(A/N: literally) **that were whitelighters, who could orb, heal, and reconstitute; and the fiery, ardent-tempered, dangerous-prerogative witches, whose powers could vary from Empathy to Temporal Manipulation; would result in person who for one, didn't lie in either catagory, and would also be more powerful than them.

"The Elders are still trying to get me to abdicate from magic completely."

"You're the Abhorsen. They can't do that!" said Mana.

"They are failing, although not for lack of trying."

"Anyway, you're the reason they are still Up There."

"Agreed, I don't see them wielding swords and bells and banishing Dead things. 'Passive and non-violent', they're supposed to be. Pathetic and volatile, strikes nearer."

"You know, as the overseers of good magic, they seem very callous."

"They don't want things to change. They don't like anything that they can't control. They take it out on Charter Mages and often the Power of Three. I told them once that they should take it out on the necromancers and demons... They stilled their tongues then."

Flashback

_A slightly younger Seth stood in front of the lecturn, his eyes scouring the Book of Shadows. As he turned the somewhat yellow page, an Elder orbed in a few feet in front of him. He looked up in scorn, but the Elder kept an face that was expressionless as the white robes he wore. _

"_What do you want now?" he asked disdainfully._

"_To question you." he replied, still expressionless._

"_Why would that be then?" _

"_We are…" he said, struggling to find a subtle way to put it, "...concerned. About you."_

"_Since when have the Elders ever been concerned in me?"_

"_Since your powers started escalating out of your control."_

"_Excuse me?" he said, his voice lowered several tones._

"_It is our verdict that your magic is becoming… on too greater scale."_

"_And?" _

"_This troubles us…"_

"_What? That I might… possibly… be more powerful than you?" he exaggerated the 'possibly', his voice dripped with sarcasm._

"_No, we…" he said, but Seth interrupted again,_

"_Well that's tough. I have no control over my destiny."_

"_That's just it."_

_  
"What?" he asked, this time in genuine surprise._

"_You have no destiny!" he said, showing signs of concealed distress. Seth fell silent in shock and disgust. _

"_You were never even supposed to exist! Let alone grow up into what you are!"_

"_A Charter Mage?" he said eloquently, "The Abhorsen?" The Elder looked stern, although Seth could tell that uneasiness was simmering, nearer the surface than he would have liked. He shuffled slightly, but never took his gaze from the Charter Mage._

"_Whitelighters are…"_

"_Not permitted to have relationships with their charges. I know that. But it happened alright and I was not around to stop it! So much for the great Elders! The overseers of good magic! What did you do? You broke my father, driving him to darkness and all but killed my mother! And you come to me now telling me that I am not supposed to exist! If you think you can demoralise me for being stronger than your petty, passive, 'philanthropistic' power, then you are sadly mistaken! Do you question me still! If so, I suggest YOU confront the demons, and the necromancers, and the Dead, and on my life, you'd not last a day!" he hollered, his anger boiling and simmering to the surface. _

_"Seth..."_

_"Get out." he snarled, "Out of my sight!" he raised his fists to blow the Elder up, but he orbed out, and he never got a good shot. He cursed himself and let his on hand fall onto the Book, thudding on the page. The other fell to his side and hit his thigh. _

_End Flashback_

"Rest assured come the day they will spit on my grave. But until then I shall continue to scorn them." he said, "Right, this is almost done." he took on a fresher tone, scooping the mandrake root into the cauldron and standing back from the marigold wisp that followed.

"Essences of Yin and Yang;

Repeal this Spectre's Evils' sang,

Loose the ties that here doth bind,

Evil for Life that hither hath pined."

"Good rhyme." said Mana, nodding her head in approval.

"Now all we have to do is find the damn thing." said Seth.

"How do we do that?" asked Kisara.

"Well spirits are attracted to other spirits, so I can Astral Project, and it should come. Take the potion, and throw it at the ground below it when it comes, and be quick."

"Yes your High Priest-ness." said Mana, who seemed to have taken on a new state of hyperness.

"Did I mention that she occasionally goes hyper?" he said to Kisara, who looked wide-eyed to her friend, who was now giggling uncontrollably. He nodded they took a moment to watch her sides split with the giggles.

"Please don't leave me here with her." she said,

"I'm not going to find it, it's coming to find me. You'll have to throw the potion." he said, sitting down in a chair and getting comfortable. He closed his eyes, and his head lolled forward. His transparent soul-form appeared standing next to it. Kisara took the potion phial forceably from Mana's hand, who had fallen to the floor, and was apparently choking. Kisara kicked her on the side, and looked around from the thing. The door blew shut and a wind began to circulate. The figureless thing pulled itself from a wall on the opposite side of the pantry, and Kisara threw the phial. It smashed and the potion turned to a red gas, engulfing the thing. It screamed like it had done when Seth had shocked it, and exploded, a dark blue light erupting from it's centre. As it burst into little smitherines, the blue light grew, and flew into Mana, fading into nothing, and she suddenly stopped giggling and cocked her head to the side daftly, the new silence almost hurting their ears. She jumped up, and jumped up and down in the air twice. Seth and Kisara raised their eyebrows. She looked excited and even more hyper.

Worryingly so.

"Mana, are you okay?" Kisara asked, tilting herself to the side as if she might offend her and be attacked. Mana cocked her head to the side and then straight again, neck rigid.

"I'm fine." she said robotically, looking guiltily to her right.

"She's not fine." Seth whispered. Mana giggled evilly and grinned with equal malevolence. Then, without any indication whatsoever, she shimmered out and reappeared on the other side of the room. Seth's eyes widened.

"Oh. No." he said, pausing after the 'oh'.

"What?"

"Well, if the thing was a manifestation, then it was a collection of vanquished leftovers, but to come to life, it must have had some kind of power - the powers of the demons that were vanquished..."

"And..."

"Powers are tied to the soul. These powers couldn't be tied to the soul because it was fragments of different souls, so when we vanquished the thing, the powers it had couldn't go with the fragmented souls, so it had to find another vessel..."

"So Mana..."

"Now has demonic powers. Powers she isn't supposed to have."

"What do we do?" said Kisara, nervously eyeing Mana, who had started shimmering all over the room.

"We get it out of her!" said Seth, stepping to the Book and flicking through the pages with a newfound urgency.

"Hehehehehehehe..." laughed Mana, cocking her head to the side intimidatingly again.

"Okay..." said Kisara, nodding and trying very hard to take this in, "...Okay... so... Mana's a demon?"

"No, she's Mana with the wrong powers. I wouldn't entrust any destructive powers to Mana, let alone demonic ones!"

"Mana?" said Kisara, careful not to go too close,

"Who are you?" she asked bouncily.

"Kisara? Remember?"

"Are you good?"

"Yes, and so are you." she answered. Mana scowled.

"Ah, that's what I'm looking for." Seth said, and he walked next door to where the darker ingredients and potions were kept. Kisara walked to the doorway, but no further, so as to keep an eye on Mana, who just stood in the middle of the room like a very naughty child who was eagerly waiting to be told off, hands behind her back 'evilly innocently' and looked around at the ceilings, as if she were concucting evil schemes and desperately trying to hide it.

"What are you doing?" she said, as he lifted the lid of a box and started rummaging through the contents.

"Looking for something." he said, not turning his attention from the box. After he dug through what seemed to be most of it, he pulled out a dagger-like thing, and shut the lid of the box again.

"What's that?"

"It's a power-draining athemé... Oh it will only drain the demonic powers of course."

"What exactly do we do with it?"

"Stab her."

"WHAT!"

"I can heal her."

"Okay..." she said, still not too comfortable about Seth's plan. He walked back through from the darker ajoinment slapping the sharp silver blade of the athemé against the palm of his hand. Mana suddenly stared at him.

"You're the Abhorsen!" she said, dumbstruck, doing the head-thing.

"Yes. Mana, you know I'm the Abhorsen."

"Hehe! The Abhorsen with an athemé! What alliteration! Abhorsen can I kill someone?"

"NO!" they both yelled, Seth particularly surprised that she had called him 'Abhorsen'. What was more worrying was that it had sounded genuine, she wasn't mocking or scorning him. Mana _never, _but _never _called him 'Abhorsen', always 'Seth', or 'your Majesty', if others were in attendance, especially Mahado, who always reprimanded her for calling Seth and Atem by their first names.

"Pleeeaaaaaaaassssssseeeee! Please can I kill someone, I have to kill someone! Who can I kill!"

"Mana..."

"You're good, I can kill you!" she said, throwing an energy ball at his stomach, which missed, and brought the shelves behind him to the floor. She punched Kisara hard on the back of the shoulder, and Seth threw the athemé, and it struck her in the shoulder. She screamed and collapsed pretty much all in one go. He yanked the athemé out and bright red blood leaked out onto the floor, making Kisara squint sqeamishly. Seth held his hands over the wound and it disappeared in the golden healing glow. She woke up with a jolt and a gasp.

"I just had the weirdest dream..." she said, cradling the back of her neck, "I dreamt that I had demonic powers, and I tried to kill you."

"Well the bit about the demonic powers and the inept attempt to kill me was true. Where'd you get the dream from?" said Seth. She groaned,

"I really tried to kill you?" she asked, now come back down from her hyper streak.

"...Yup." he said bluntly, "But it was the powers talking."

"Amun Ra I'm so sorry!"

"Don't be, demons and various things try to kill me every quarter-moon. Just don't do it again." he said more sternly. She nodded nervously and got to her feet.

"Get some sleep now. Room." said Seth, waving his hand, orbing Mana out and back to her bedroom. He began to orb the phials back to the shelves, with Kisara helping him. Soon he gave her the task of separating the ingredients, save a few phials for future use, and putting them back onto the shelves. She sat down, and began to separate and filter the potion, putting the ingrediants back into the phials. This was tiring work however, and after she finished, and the cauldron lay empty, she collapsed forward, and fell asleep there in the Potion Pantry.


	11. Contemplations and Chaos

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Heya again peeps this is one of my fav chappies! I'm trying to put some humour into it so bear with me lol!**

**Chapter Eleven: Contemplations and Chaos at the Palace**

Kisara dazily raised her head after a peaceful few hours slumber. The light of the not-yet rising sun shone over the horizon, casting a dark silouette over the golden Egyptian sands, and she woke to the very first swallow of the new morning, singing it's joyful song, and purching on the window sill. She smiled at it, and turned her head, as a more tired looking Seth walked in.

"Are you still down here? I thought you had long been in bed." he said, his voice another indication of fatigue. His eyes were somewhat softer and his normal everyday harsh expression was also more lenient. The meagre, scarlet sunlight illuminated his handsome features, making him look more angelic.

"I fell asleep. Are you still down here?"

"I thought I might as well do some of my work while I was down here. By the time I had finished in here it was time for me to get up anyway." he said, his fringe falling lightly around his eyes, instead of being held back behind his headdress. He groaned softly in weariness and nursed his forehead with his palm. Kisara suddenly realised a sharp pain in her shoulder, and remembered that that was where possessed-Mana had punched her. She strained her neck to see behind her, and saw purple and blue bruising. She stood up, and, grasping it, sat back down again. Wherever Mana had punched her, it had caused some sort of problem with the muscle, which was now abnormally stiff and painful when she moved.

"What is it?" Seth asked,

"Ahh, Mana... possessed Mana, punched me on the back, and it's gone all stiff and bruised..."

"Hmm." he hmmed, and ran the palm of his hand and his fingers over it, using only a slight pressure, but still enough to make her wince. His hand continued a small way down her spine, making her blush again. His touch was cool, and an unknown part of her relished the feeling of his smooth skin against hers.

"I'd like to know how hard she clouted you, she's done quite some damage." he said, "I'll heal it, but it may take a while, since it's not an open wound."

"That's fine, I'd just like to be able to move." she said, pulling her pale hair over her other shoulder as best she could. Seth held his hands over the bruising, and Kisara felt the healing glow.

It was like having the sun on her back, soothing and warming the ache away. She closed her eyes, and it wasn't difficult to kid herelf that she was sitting on a paridise island. The warm feeling spread through her, and she felt like she would never feel the cold again, and an unfamiliar pleasure began to ebb throughout her, one that just made her feel welcome and loved, one which was almost compelling. The pain faded and the bruising disappeared like someone was rewinding a video-clip of ink being spilt over a crisp white page. He ran his hand over it again, using more pressure this time,

"Anything?" he asked,

"Nothing..." she said, standing up, crouching over at first, unsure if it would hurt or not, and then, slowly, straightened her spine. "Thank you."

Seth felt satisfaction and happiness flood through him, although he hadn't the faintest idea why. He successfully healed people nearly every day of his life, so why was she any different? What was it? She smiled up at him sweetly through the strands of hair that fell over her face.

He had to know.

Then without thinking, he bent down and kissed her, very gently though. Barely a kiss at all, yet a kiss just enough. He put a hand to her face and brushed her hair back, and almost flinched when she placed her own hand on his shoulder. As his hormones took control, he began to kiss her more deeply, sweet rapture torrented through him as he felt her return it. She felt his arms secure themselves protectively around her waist and she ran her fingers through his silky chesnut hair. He began to teach her the extent of her own desire by pausing for a few split seconds and letting her yearn for him, before sealing his lips over hers again, making her want him even more. His feather-light touch against her was like fuel to fire, it set her nerves ablaze, making a heavy, throbbing sense of bliss ebb through her tired muscles, which were being stimulated by this passionate high. She pressed her body against his, and, felt the colossal power - both magical and physical - that he possessed surging in his veins. He cunningly slid his tongue into her mouth, a breach which surprised her, but she made no attempt to forbear it; she was too lost in the adrenaline and hormones that were raging at that moment. Nothing was needed to tell her that he was feeling exactly the same as she was.

He had never felt so powerless, and as his body took control of itself from his mind, he placed his hands on her waist, tracing up and down, and for a split second over her hips, enjoying her perfect outline. She too, was equally enjoying his body, as she ran her hands down his muscular chest and over his broad shoulders, even feeling him tremble beneath her sensitive palms. After what seemed like forever to them, they reluctantly broke apart and she closed her eyes and held her head back as he planted slow, small kisses and hungry nips on her neck, and on feeling his hot breath fast against her skin, her body flooded with pleasure. She looked up at the rising sun as he drew her into a hug, and she rested her head on his chest, feeling safe and protected in his embrace. Both of them felt too light to say anything, their hearts were a flutter of emotions. They felt heavy and secure, yet at the same time light and straining against that security. They stood motionless, unable to move.

"What now?" she whispered through heavy breath. He said nothing, and held her tighter. Now he knew.

She almost started sobbing into his blue tunic, for that ardent ecstasy that both of them had basked in, she had forgotten who he was...

The High Priest.

The Abhorsen.

Someone she could never fall in love with.

He was a world away from her - he was, second to the Pharaoh, hierachally the most powerful man in Egypt, and a runaway first in magic and fighting arts. And who was she? A peasant girl with no flair for magic at all and no more a martial expert than the youngest child.

It was like their souls were entwined, and they were only whole together. Completed. But it came at the price of control. From the moment she had felt his tongue in her mouth, she had felt so high, so attached to him. It made her wonder what - had they been given the time and privacy - might have happened. Would she have gone all the way with him? It had felt like she would have, and the thought of feeling that kind of passion again almost frightened her. It had stirred from absolutely nothing, so would it again? ... ...

_with Pharaoh Atem..._

"SSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHH!"

"SSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEETTTTTHHHHHH!"

Blue orbs swirled and the blue-clad High Priest orbed in behind the Pharaoh, who was pacing up and down over the flagstone floor.

"You hollered?" Seth asked sadistically, biting his lip in preparation for what would almost certainly come next. Atem turned around and was met by his 6ft 4 cousin, and jumped back, falling and landing on the stone with a thud.

"OW!"

"Are you alright?" said Seth coolly, raising an eyebrow,

"No..." said Atem, "You know Seth, the average response time for whitelighters the world over is considerably lowered by you."

"And the amount of hoax calls made by you puts it back into equilibrium."

"I could have been under demon attack for all you know." he scowled,

"Oh quite the contrary, I know exactly when the spiders are massing, because you are usually levitating somewhere near the ceiling..."

"Wait... There are demon spiders!"

"Well, yes... but I was referring to the black widow that was taking refuge under the throne last quarter-moon..."

"About the Grecian Embassy ..." he said, changing the subject.

"Ah yes, ... aren't they the imbeciles whose heads are bigger than their urns who tried to take over Grecia **(A/N: Greece) **by means of a sage leaf and a dead goose?"

Atem slammed his hand on a nearby table;

"That _was_ frightening!"

"And weren't they running around wearing oversized wimples and artificial facial hair shouting 'The Egyptians are coming, look busy'?"

"That was just because you and Isis were there..."

"Oh yes, and the time they tried to part the Red Sea using just papyrus and chinese noodles..."

"The very same. And they want another meeting with Isis and yourself."

"We told them to sod off didn't we?"

"Yes, but you _did _turn one of them into a turkey so that one obviously didn't remember. And about that..." he said, shaking his head as if he were scolding an ill-behaved child, "_Don't _do it again!" he stressed to 'don't', but he could tell that Seth was already concucting somewhat evil plans.

"That was a good potion." said Seth through chuckles, "Totally made up on the spot, but not bad if I do say so myself. Poor old Polydatus..."

"He is going to be here tomorrow."

"WHAT!" Seth's jaw dropped.

"Tomorrow at high noon."

"How do you know this?"

"Isis told Karim to tell Shaada to tell Mahado to tell Mana to tell me to tell you because she couldn't find you this morning."

Seth remembered where he had been and smiled slightly to himself,

"What's funny?"

"Nothing." Seth lied,

"Where were you then? Purgatory?"

"Heaven."

"You carry on."

"I shall. Continuing the previous conversation... ... WHAT!"

"He is coming to see yourself and Isis with, I quote; 'his officials'." said Atem, who gave his cousin a weird look and then shut his eyes tight and gritted his teeth as Seth hit the floor, having apparently fallen off his chair.

"Can I just mention here that the last time he 'brought his officials', I nearly lost control of my powers again and Mana hi-jacked the Sphinx!"

"Yes... I'm still not sure why she tried to do that... Surely you can control them now! Can you not?"

"I'm not sure myself. Every time I think I've got control, they advance or I get especially angry and end up blowing things up. Literally every time I get angry I feel my powers advance, and I have to fight for control like I did when I was a child. It's a fantastic anger-management alternative." he said half sarcastically, half daftly, if such a tone were possible.

"What exactly did he do to provoke you then?"

"Existing. He insults Egypt as a whole and supports the Elders as far as their opinion of me is concerned." he scowled, "I would I never spoke with the man. However," he said, stretching his long form and twirling the Millenium Scepter in his hand. Atem knew what he was on about, and nodded;

"In that case Seth, feel welcome to wreak your wrath however you see fit... Oh, and keep Mana _away_ from that Sphinx!"

_Tomorrow at midday_

"Ah, here comes his Baldness." said Seth maliciously as he watched a Grecian procession boat traipse down the Nile, trumpets sounding, flags blazing in the risen breeze. He began to descend the staircases to the ground level, deciding that he would conceal his powers; orbing and such were talents and abilities best left veiled for the moment. He would rather be underestimated than overestimated. He met up with Isis and both of them walked out to 'greet' coughcough the Grecian philosopher slash critic slash advisor, and dare he think, slash fraud. The man was easily detestable. Seth's long cloak billowed in the breeze, making him look even stronger. He and Polydatus were total opposites: Seth was tall, strong and had a young slender figure. The only word that could have been used to describe Polydatus was 'obese'. He waddled rather than walked, and his 'officials' had to help him out of his boat, all of them gritting their teeth, obviously to stop themselves from groaning. Seth had to stifle his laughter at the sight of it. Polydatus stood around 5ft 10, and wore a massive white robe that much resembled a bed sheet. The two were both of similar size, Seth was sure. He was around his mid-forties, and was bald all for a bit of gray hair around the back of his head, much like the Roman monks and scribes. He had a ring of figleaves on his head and wore Roman-style sandals, apposed to the more Chinese-style clothes that Seth and Mahado wore. Both Isis and he stood still, and let the fat man come to them. It had to be said, he needed the exercise. He waddled up and nodded in a rather false acknowledgement.

"High Priest Seth, High Priestess Isis," he said in his usual yet sickening tone, "My greetings from Grecia."

"Polydatus," said Isis, not moving from her rigid position, "Egypt welcomes you." she too, spoke in a very false tone. "Shall we?" she indicated toward the Great Hall.

"Please." he said. At that moment, Seth snapped his fingers behind his back and murmered a few Charter Marks under his breath.

"I will fetch the documents, Seth will show you through." said Isis. Seth scowled, she had just landed him with the flab-bag.

"This way," he said, holding the door for him and aiming a kick at his backside, one which, disappointedly, never quite got there. Seth showed him into what appeared to be a parlour, and nodded in self-approval at his work. He walked off back to check on the officials, and met Isis halfway;

"Seth can you check the 'officials'? They have somehow managed to get into the kitchens..." she said flusteredly, "Seth, where is Polydatus?"

"Oh I left him in the parlour."

"Oh..." she said, looking away for a second, before whipping her head back to face him, eyes wide, "WE DON'T HAVE A PARLOUR!"

"We do now!" he replied, and she nodded enthusiastically in a business-like manner.

Seth and Isis were bored out of their brains. They endured one masquerading insult after the other, until Seth aborted the meeting until tomorrow. Isis went out for something, and Seth stayed to watch the moving flab-bag. he looked around impatiently mainly at the ceiling a tapped his fingers against the table. Seth sat in silence with his arms folded, looking coolly at the table in front of him.

"Ahhh, so how goes it pupil?" Polydatus asked Seth, who looked up as if to say 'do-you-dare-talk-to-me?'

" I think you will find that I am no pupil."

"Alas child your age is small. How many years do you have?"

"Enough to know that efficiency and age are not necessarily entwined."

"By my count you should be long turned eighteen." he said jollily. Seth nodded.

"Eight full-moons."

"How go your studies?" Seth almost exploded at that. He was suggesting that he were a mere child waving a golden toothpick around, not the Abhorsen, High Priest and First Millennium Master.

"I am long done there."

"I say, here's queerness! What magics know you? Not many surely?"

Seth was beginning to simmer, and took very silent deep breaths, willing his powers stay concealed.

"More than many, and more than many think."

"Pray what?" he asked dim-wittedly. Seth thought his answer over carefully. Polydatus presumed that he was just a normal eighteen year-old, with no special magic talent. However much Seth hated it, it would have to stay that way.

"Cryokinesis, Invisibility.." he said, choosing warily, "Pyrokinesis and Clairvoyance."

"A witch line then?"

Seth nodded. Hardly anyone knew that he was a whitelighter. Flab-bag was no exception.

"Pity..." he said, not looking Seth in the eye. Seth's sapphire blue eyes froze where they sat. Ten-fathom seas became lakes of sparkling ice, and raged beneath the layer of cold. Polydatus, who had appeared to not have seen this, continued; "That it should go to waste."

"How so?" Seth's voice became as frosty as his eyes and his neck became rigid.

"Men with witch magic cannot control magic so easily as the witches themselves." this time he saw Seth's temper flaring, and continued to drive his point home. "They cannot handle it they are weak!"

"Men are weaker than women? That's a first!" he spat, "Who are you to make such a gesture?"

"An Elder..."

"Bullshit! You're no more an Elder than I am a darklighter!"

"You don't know that. Your luck you are not a whitelighter boy, or I would have you fall from Grace!"

_"Ha!" _he thought, he obviously wasn't an Elder, or he would have been able to sense that he had whitelighter powers.

"What Grace? If I _were_ a whitelighter I would not place myself under the control of the Elders I assure you."

"Your speech is full of disdain. What are you to say that? You speak like you are a Charter Mage; domain over bloody everything!"

"Ahem...turkey..." he murmered, just loud enough for the flab-bag to hear it. Polydatus was about to reply when Kisara came in with a trayload of refreshments.

"Ah lovely!" he exclaimed, and he got up to go out, thinking that he would lose control if he stayed for much longer. He would either have to unleash it on him, or try and contain it and lose control of it. At that moment, as Kisara went to put the large tray on the table, Polydatus grabbed her backside and she dropped the tray.

Seth saw red.

Kisara moved away as the flab-bag chuckled merrily.

Seth transformed the Rod into the dagger and held it to his neck.

"I warn you now," he snarled, "_never, _but _never,_ touch, any woman here, be she a servant or otherwise. Eat that. It may be your last." he said, and with that, he drew the Rod back, putting a deep scratch in his neck.He stared at Seth, who stared back even more vividly. Flab-bag put his chubby fingers to his bloody neck and cursed at the sight of his own blood. Seth gestured for Kisara to go and took his own leave. He marched out of the door, brushing roughly past Isis as she came back in, and orbing out as soon as he was out of sight of the Grecian man.

_Somewhere in the middle of the Desert_

Seth stood upon a mound of sand in the middle of nowhere. He had long learnt that if he was going to lose control, he had to get away from every one, and in the middle of the Desert was one of the few places that were perfectly suited to this. He was breathing heavily, although he had done nothing to earn it, and his Charter Mark flared even brighter than it had ever done before, and was painful - it had felt hot before, but never painful. His head hurt with some smarting far past any mortal ailment, feeling like it was going to split in two. Magic circulated wildly in his blood, and it felt much like teenage hormones.

Except worse.

Much worse.

He felt heavy and weighed down, as if he were longing to soar, but some annoying restraint was keeping him down. He felt claustrophobic within his own body, and as he began to relax, a wind began to blow. How could he be so powerful and so helplesss at the same time? He flicked his wrists and spread his fingers. An intense crashing sound hit his eardrums as he blew a hole in the sand, which gave way and flew in a cloud of opaque dust, leaving a massive crater where it had lain. He held his arms wide, and dark grey clouds rolled into the heavens overhead, a dark shadow was cast over the land, and thunder could be heard in every corner of Egypt. Yes, all four of them, and beyond. A mere twitch of his will. That was all it took for the rain to pour upon him and Egypt alike. He held his right hand up in the air, and brought it down like an axe came down upon the neck of a condemned criminal, and an enormous bolt of lightning came down on the ground a few yards away from him, smashing the ground to smitherines. Rain dripped from his headdress and off the end of his nose, drenching him through, his while cloak now hung limp behind him, and his clothes had effectively glued themselves to him. A fierce wind blew in his face, bringing tiredness to his eyes, which were tinged with a blue fire. Amongst the midst of this darkness that had surrounded him, a light glowed from behind him. One he didn't notice. Isis emerged from the lights, a piece of crisp, fresh papyrus wilted in her hand as the rain hit it, smudging the ink that had graced it with it's presence.

"Seth!" she called through the wind and rain. He sensed her presence before he heard her, and he turned his head to face her with feeble expression. "Seth! Stop this!" she hollered, but he turned his face away slightly.

"How did you get here?" he asked between breaths.

"A Summoning Spell, no less," she replied, "Stop this now!"

"I can't. I haven't the strength..."

"If you have the strength to do this," she said, holding out her arms referring to the sudden change in climate, "Then you have the strength to stop it!"

He turned to face her squarely, pain apparent in his eyes. She saw this.

"Seth, I understand. But you have to come back with me!"

"I can't take him Isis. I'll kill him. And I'll enjoy it."

"He is gone. Rest assured." she said, and although she saw him relax a little, the rain continued to fall. "What else troubles you?"

"What, apart from having powers that are totally out of my control? Please tell me Isis, because I need to know!"

She softened her gaze and took another few strides up to him. Not afraid of him at all, as many would have been.

"Let's just say I have a pretty good idea of what's going on in there." said the Empath, slowly prodding his chest where his heart lay, "If you cannot stop it, then no one can. Calm down."

He focused on using his excess energy to drive the storm away, and the rain lightened and stopped completely, the clouds from which it had come disappearing as quickly as they had come, the natural blue Egyptian skies flooding back into their vision. The Sun shone brightly, and hot steam could be seen rising from the drenched sands. It would be dust again soon, Seth thought. His temper and powers quelled and he felt them return to his control, like figuring out and having time to answer to a particularly difficult question in the dying seconds of an exam.

"Not bad." she said, "Come on, orb." and he took her hand, and disappeared.

**Well I was quite happy with that, I tried to make it funny for a bit but it didn't fit in well with the plot, so I overlooked it.** **When it comes to gags, please allow 28 days for delivery...**


	12. Gone to Grecia

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Guess who's back wit' a brand new chap... no, chapter, not lad, I wish...**

**Chapter 12: Gone to Grecia...**

_Later on_

"Mana, where is Kisara?" asked Seth curiously. He hadn't seen her since the incident with Polydatus and no one seemed to know where she was.

"I don't know. I've been looking for her, until a few minutes ago I presumed that she was still in the scullions."

"And is she?"

"No."

"You were supposed to keep an eye on her!"

"I know but I was in the scullions too and then I had to go for a lesson and she stayed to do my shift and I don't know what happened after that!" Mana waffled, tying her tongue in endless knots. Seth thought for a moment, before replying;

"Get the other mage apprentices and search the palace!" he said, "I will try and sense her." Mana nodded and ran off towards the stables where mage apprentices' quarters were. Seth walked out to the Nile, letting the sound of the swirling water channel his senses. His mind cleared, and he imagined white lights flowing around him, through him.

He couldn't find her.

This was serious.

If he couldn't sense her, it meant that she was dead, or not in this world...

Or, there was some kind of cloaking spell. He extended his senses, listening to his mind's ear. He could sense her, but very weakly, and he sensed pain - of the emotional sort or course. But it was like she was behind some kind of protective shield, and he couldn't get to her. He opened his eyes and looked into the clear depths of the river, and let the current take his gaze upstream toward the North Sea and the Latin lands and Grecia. Then, something in the distance caught his eye... a golden something glinted in the setting Sun. He picked it up. It was hot with the Sun's heat on his palm, a feeling he was all too used to, but something about it intrigued him in such a way that he couldn't ignore. It was just a gold piece, the kind that the more wealthy men carried in their purses. He passed it off as just someones petty loss, but all the same, he didn't pocket it, instead he kept it in his hand, as if he were waiting for it to bring him some kind of hypothesis. He trudged back to the stables, where he tacked up Sekhme, who pawed at the door impatiently and tried to rub her face up and down his pristine white attire, which he didn't thank her for.

"Hey girl," were all of the words that caught the air. Few of many. He vaulted into the saddle as lightly and silently as a feather, and gathered up the reins, nudging her forward. He decided to take her down the Nile, as he was sure that it would clear his head, and hers, with any luck. He let her stretch on a long rein as he looked around him, kicking hs feet out of the stirrups and letting his legs hang long by her sides. As he listened to the sound of her heavy hoofbeats against the dead sand, he heard a sharp, metal-like sound under her foot, and she immediately jumped to the side, almost jolting him into the river. Fortunatly he was a good rider, and was not phased and nor unseated by her sudden spook. He slid neatly from her back and picked up her foot, to see if what she had trodden on had done any damage. When he was satisfied that there was no harm done, he brushed the sand aside with his foot to find what she had stepped on, and was surprised to find another gold piece, the same shape and size as the first. Except this one had a small mark on it - some gold coins owned by the very wealthy were engraved with their insigna, and were usually only ever given as gift tokens. This mark was no Charter Mark, but Seth's knowledge of the Charter Marks allowed him to decipher this symbol: it was a circle, divided in two by a straight line that ran both above and below it, with a leaf on the left side, and two highly decorated Grecian letters clearly enscribed on the right. The leaf could be interpreted to mean power, like the Roman and Grecian Emperors wore them as crowns, but it could also mean grace and elegance. As a High Priest, he could speak Arabic, Grecian, Latin, Chinese and Britannian, and the letters presented no problem for him, they were initials - PL. Seth now knew that this coin belonged to Polydatus, but even he wasn't one to drop his prized coins on the Egyptian sands, so why? As he felt the similarities between the two coins correlate, he suddenly felt wide awake in shock, and his eyelids closed like two attracting magnets...

_Vision_

_Seth's eyesight returned in black and white, and he saw Kisara walk back into the kitchens, quite shaken of course. She untied her apron and put it down on the nearby hook..._

_scene change_

_Ske walked out of the kitchens and out towards Mana's lesson, but was met by Polydatus' men, who grabbed her arms while one held a knife to her neck... _

_scene change_

_They now appeared to be on Polydatus' dragon-boat, and Seth saw her drop a coin over the side, and watch the storm in the distance, tears streaming down her face as she looked at the ever-shrinking palace on the horizon..._

_End Vision_

Seth's eyes flashed open, his Charter Mark glowing faintly. He galloped back to the palace, and on finding everyone absent for supper, left a note on Isis' desk;

_' Isis,_

_I know where Kisara is. Stop searching, and continue as normal. I have gone to Grecia, Ra knows for how long, but I shall return shortly._

_Yours,_

_Seth. _

He folded the note and put it under a paperweight, before, grabbing Sekhme's reins and orbing out to Grecia.

"Mahado? Have you seen Seth? He wasn't at supper." said Isis anxiously. The young Priest shook his head,

"No, maybe he has taken Sekhme out, she isn't in her stable and the tack is gone."

"I hope so." she replied, walking to her desk to finish her reports. The first thing she saw was that her paperweight had been moved from its' usual position, and she scowled and moved it back. The note blew off the table gently and swung to the floor. She got up again and picked it up, unfolding it and quickly scanning the contents, and then reading it more carefully.

"MAHADO!" she yelled, folding it down again, creasing the parchment, marching after the Priest.

Seth held Sekhme's reins and calmly held her in silence behind a market square wall. He was about to lead her out into the square, but a quick glance down on his apparel told him otherwise. Everyone would know that he was the Egyptian High Priest, it was a bit obvious, and word would spread like crazy. He waved his arm over his head, and his blue and gold outfit changed for a dirtier/cream coloured one, the kind the older mage apprentices wore, just before they left training, which was about his age. the same pantaloons, and a comfortable fitting tunic tied at the waist with a thick sash. He no longer had his headdress, and his chestnut hair, which everyone so seldom saw, fell around his eyes and ears, which made him vastly less recognisable. He sheathed his sword in it's scabbard and tied it to his waist, and hid the Millennium Rod. He mounted Sekhme again and walked out into the square, and was instantly worried by the whispers that emerged from the crowd. Although, thankfully, they were not about him, but they were admiring his horse. Men from the ground started shouting prices at him and making offers to buy her, but he ignored them and pushed her through the crowd. People were massing around the various stands and the chinking of coins could be heard for miles around. He looked over to where the slave traders were, and saw various men, women and teenagers his own age stood being sold, and his stomach churned. A tiny figure smaller than all the others caught his magic's attention. A small boy, stood in a group of chained people. He could only have been nine or ten, and was adorned in rags. He had big sad brown eyes and wore a pitiful expression on his dirty face. It was a sad story. Slave children seldom lived past eleven, twelve if they were lucky, because they were brutally overworked. But there was something about this child that stopped him in his tracks. Seth sensed magic, quite powerful, but more importantly, a rare magic.

Whitelighter magic.

This child was an impending whitelighter, but was too young and hadn't come into his powers yet. Seth watched him as he was marched in a procession onto the stage thing on which they were auctioned off. He looked sadly at his audience, while the traders threw whiplashes at them to make them stand straight. He winced in pain as the lash of the whip licked his back, and Seth, having the advantage of being on a horse, easily parted the crowd and rode closer. The traders started shouting their prices and selling points, but no-one was interested in a weak child. Slaves were not paid anyway, so a child wouldn't be cheaper, which was the only reason they were ever taken on by people who would pay them. Why buy a child when you can buy a stronger adult? The traders yelled louder into the crowd as a brainwave came to Seth.

"Seven pieces for the boy." he said loudly in fluent Grecian, attracting the traders' attention. "Not a penny more."

"Nine." said the trader.

"Seven, my final offer." he said. They looked to each other in thought. They wouldn't refuse him, his was the only offer they would get for him, and they might as well go home seven pieces richer.

"Seven. Done." he replied, and Seth counted out seven gold coins in his hand. The traders threw the boy ruthlessly to the ground at Sekhme's hooves, and Seth emptied his hand into theirs. He dismounted and knelt by the boy, who was barely conscious.

"Master..." he said weakly, as he propped himself up with his hands.

"What is your name?"

"Aeneas." he replied.

_"The defender of Troy..."_ Seth thought, referring to the origin of the name.

"Can you ride a horse?" he asked the child, who nodded slowly and nervously.

"Hang on then." he replied, and picked the boy up and sat him over Sekhme's withers, before vaulting on himself and telling the child to hold her mane. Sekhme didn't need to be told that she was transporting precious cargo, and never spooked once on the ride out of the square.

"Do you know where Polydatus lives?" he said, and Aeneas nodded.

"In the olive groves, in the manor house." he replied.

"Tell me the way." he said, his only thoughts resting upon Kisara, who, he was realising, he was more in love with than he thought.

"Master, have you a meeting?"

"No...I..." he paused to think, struggling to form his words, "It is a long story, but to cut it short, Polydatus took someone, a love, from me in Egypt and I must bring her back."

"Your lady Master? You are from Egypt? Consort you with such?"

"Unfortunately. This house here?" he asked, as the pleasant scent of olives overwhelmed his nasal senses.

"Yes."

"Where are any prisoners kept?"

"Below, I think Master, but there is an entrance through the side for soldiers and the like."

Seth nodded, and dismounted, lifting the boy down after him.

"Stay here Sekhme, keep watch, and stay silent." he whispered to the horse, who moved her head in a way which suggested a nod. Seth muttered a spell under his breath and the lock on the door clicked inaudiably. Aeneas followed him through down the passage which was pitch black and his couldn't see past the end of his nose, however his senses were well-developed, and he could paint a mental picture of what lay ahead, nevertheless, Aeneas could not. Seth spoke some more Charter Marks and the passage was filled with a yellow light, which to most would have been strange, as there was no apparent source, the passage was just lit.

"An accomplished sorcerer you are Master." Aeneas whispered respectfully, but Seth didn't reply. He saw cells in front of him, and he could see no one. But he could sense her! He felt her presence, and his heart began to beat faster. he looked along the rows of cells, and in the one at the very end, where the silver moonlight fell through the bars, lay a slim feminine figure, sleeping under what blankets she had. Seth broke the lock on the door, and slowly opened it, sliding his slender physique through when the gap was big enough. He knelt by her side and shook her gently;

"Kisara," he whispered, "Kisara wake up." She stirred slowly, and on seeing him she smiled brightly,

"Seth!" she said, as he drew her into a loving embrace, never wanting to let her go. He hadn't thought that it was possible to feel this strongly for anyone.

"He said he was going to make me one of his wives..." she sobbed, turning her face into his chest. At that moment, he became aware of how truly in love he was. She likewise. No one would ever take her from him again. Ever. He didn't know quite how it had happened, but something about it seemed right, like from the moment he saw her their fate was sealed.

(A/N: This is long do I'll be brief. In my deranged world from where this fic was concucted, for everyone everywhere, there is one other person out there for them. Their true love, but the chance of a couple who's destiny is written in the stars meeting is small, astronomically so. They can be spread all over the world and even in other worlds. The love between a couple who are truly destined to be together is true love. True love is much stronger than any love a 'normal' couple could have, sometimes painful and very compelling. Physical touch from the other results in rapture, and it is a bond that lasts for a lifetime and beyond. Such a bond is present between Seth and Kisara.)

Finally, and regretedly, Seth let go of her and an uncomfortable, almost painful feeling swept over him, like she was the only thing keeping him stable.

"Aeneas, take Kisara back to Sekhme, I will meet you thither." The boy nodded and led his Mistress out of the dungeon. Seth walked in the opposite direction, up the stairs, and through a grand doorway into the house itself. It was grand, and was just how he thought Polydatus would have it. Brightly coloured beyond his status, and most of it fake or counterfeit. He walked briskly to the living quarter, where Flab-bag was sat with a plate of grapes in his hand. Seth wondered how it was possible to be so fat when all there was to live on was fruit like grapes. He looked up and swallowed his mouthful;

"Who are you?" he asked loudly, not recognising the High Priest.

"Your adversary apparently." he said. "I gave you a thousand warnings not to try my patience, and still you jested. And had you not involved my emotions as well, I might have passed it off as not worth the visit. However," he said, his voice icy and sharp, and the fat man's jaw dropped as he recognised him.

"Poseidon!" he exclaimed, dropping his grapes, "High Priest Seth!"

"The one and only."

"What are you doing in my house!"

"Come to teach _you _lesson!" he said, flicking his wrists. There was a sound of smashing wood and Polydatus was thrown back into the previously spotless wall. Seth was surprised that he didn't leave a dent in it. He was even more surprised when he fought back.

"Well well, young Seth, you kept that a secret."

"_That_ was nothing." he said. A small energy ball appeared in his hand, and he threw it directly at the teenager.

"Energy ball!" he called, and the energy ball became orbs, returning to his hand, and then back onto its' caster. Seth aimed it at his arm, which, of course, it hit dead on and left a nasty-looking burnt open wound. Polydatus cried out in pain, and looked up at him wishing every possible curse upon him, clutching his bloody arm.

"You're a whitelighter..." he said, half in awe, half in disgust, "But that's impossible!"

"Is it?" he asked, his arms folded smartly across his chest, taking long strides towards the man, who was now too petrified to move. This High Priest was powerful, and he ceased to make any bones about it. He was barely an adult, but the power that he now seemed to have was incredible. He must have been able to cloak it, because he had never sensed that much in him before. He unsheathed his sword, and the Polydatus truly did freeze...

The Abhorsen's Blade...

But how? He couldn't be the Abhorsen! He was too young for a start! Charter Marks glowed on the silver metal, and this dispute was suddenly taken to a new level. Polydatus knew that he would be killed if he attempted to fight the Abhorsen! Seth held the blade - the metal of which he found pleasantly cool and soothing - to his throat again.

"I should kill you." he said coldly, "I should send you past the Nineth Gate to the Stars!" Polydatus flinched as the Charter Marks flared, burning the flesh on his neck, but found now that he couldn't use his legs. "I doubt that you would be missed." he smirked in superiority, "You are pathetic. You are a coward and you are a fraud."

"Ha!" he managed through his burnt throat, "You are a child yet Seth. The Elders will have done with you! You may be powerful but you are still the same child you were five years ago!"

Seth saw red, and the Marks on the blade glowed even more brightly.

"Go to Hell!" he hissed, and with that he drew the blade back, cutting the flesh on the Grecian's neck. Blood spillt onto the floor, and he choked for a few seconds, before disturbingly paling and falling on the floor in a heap. Seth wiped the blade on the carpet, another bright red bloodstain. He sheathed it again and walked outside to Sekhme, Aeneas and of course Kisara. He felt no shame in this slaughter - being the Abhorsen and having to kill various necromancers demons and other things such as mordicants had numbed him off to it, and he knew that Polydatus had deserved it - and so probably thought all the other Grecian authorities. Seth felt a feeling of triumph sweep over him - the man would never trouble him or anyone again.

And then there was Kisara.

His Kisara.

She greeted him as he walked out into the dark night, more elegant than the moon itself. He lifted Aeneas onto the horse, then Kisara, and then vaulted on himself, taking up the reins and urging her on into the night. The journey back was peaceful and cool, and the entire way Kisara could feel Seth's breath on the back of her neck, and his chest against her back, and about three quarters of the way along, he began to kiss her neck and shoulders, occasionally nipping her soft pale skin, and what drove her mad was that she couldn't return it, as he was sat behind her, so she just lay back onto him, letting his mouth and occasionally his tongue caress her upper back and neck. After they were well away from anywhere and anyone, Seth orbed them back to Cairo, the last light seen in that dark Grecian night.

"SSSSSSSEEEEEEEETTTTTTTHHHHHHH!"

"SSSSSSEEEEEEEETTTTTHHHHHHHH!"

"WHAT?"

"WHERE IN RA'S NAME HAVE YOU BEEN!"

"Grecia."

"WHY?"

"Retrieving something." he said. She nodded knowingly, and tapped the side of her nose.

"And there was me thinking you'd just killed a Grecian bureaucrat."

"A whatting a what?"

"I'll tell you something Seth if you knew how much paperwork was sat on your desk at this very moment..."

"Calm down Isis!"

"You are going to fall over..."

"There you go predicting the future again how many times have we told you this Isis, it's not healthy."

"It's my signiture power you brat! I don't tell you 'Oh it's not healthy breathing in the odour of demon guts' when you blow them up!"

"Hey, and when have I ever got demon guts everywhere!"

"Really? Then what about that mark above the crucible?"

"That's Blackwater Potion, not demon innards."

"Well you know we only have so much of it!" she snapped, referring to the fact that he obviously used too much of the blackwater.

"That's been there for ages!" he complained, "And you have to pick now to come and tell me 'Oh, by the way Seth, that stain is suddenly now offending after two years of dormancy!' "

"Oh go do your paperwork you Charlatan Mage!"

"It's Charter Mage. And yes, I think I will." he said, walking back into the office, and on seeing the piles of papers piled high on his desk, his world spun, and suddenly he felt his arse hit the floor.

_'Damn you Isis!'_


	13. Oh F Hell!

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Hey guys sorry for the wait but here is chappie 13. Some facts: 1. The story about the Sphinx etc... IS NOT TRUE! The Battle of the Latin Waters never happened either! It is completely made up so all you Egyptologists out there; don't sue me! Aeneas is my OC, some lowdown on him: He's 11, about 5ft 1, has untidy mahogany hair, and olive green eyes. He's a future whitelighter, but not totally come into his powers. As you know Seth bought him as a slave and he is now in an Egyptian school. For those of you who might have been wondering, no, he is not Mokuba! he has a role that is kinda similar to Mokuba's, but he has no connection to Mokuba whatsoever! Okay then... Oh, and my apologies for Seth's language, but in these situations he is excused lol!**

** Chapter 13: Oh F Hell! **

"Seth! Come here I need to tell you something!" yelled Mana, running after the fast-pacing High Priest. He turned around to face her and waited for her to catch her breath, a bundle of scrolls held comfortably under his arm.

"What is it?" he asked, seeing that the expression on her face was perfectly and undoubtably serious.

"There's...gasp there's a rumour..." she said through heavy breath, putting her hands to her knees in exhaustion.

"What kind of rumour?" he demanded, his first thought being himself and Kisara, but his senses told him that it wasn't that, but something possibly worse.

"Well, several of the Palace Magi said that they saw... they saw Polydatus..."

"WHAT! I sent him well beyond the Nineth Gate to the Stars!"

"Precisely! We don't know if they were hallucinating, of if it was some kind of flashback, or if it was a projection, but they swear by their honour it was him."

"Oh f Hell! Where?"

"On the banks of the Nile, just walking, and he ignored them, as if he couldn't hear them when they shouted at him. But they say he was solid, as real as a living man!"

"_Amun Ra..._" Seth whispered under his breath. The only way that Polydatus could be in Life was if a necromancer had called him back. He was sure he hadn't done it, which meant...

Some other necromancer must have.

"Thank you Mana." he said, slightly shaken by this news. How? Why? Polydatus was past the Nineth Gate! It wasn't possible to be brought back from beyond the Nineth Gate. You could summon a spirit that was past the Nineth Gate, but not bring them back into Life. Spirits could take on solid forms too, which would explain the solidity of him. But what worried him more was what he was doing in Egypt. If he had been seen in Egypt, then he had been summoned in Egypt, but peasants and merchants didn't possess that kind of power, and he was sure that none of the Priests had done it. Isis, no, Mahado, no, Karim, no, Shaada, no, Atem, no...

Akunadin? ...

Possibly...

What would Akunadin want with Polydatus? Unless it wasn't Akunadin. What if it had been Thief-King Bakura? He would have power enough to summon a spirit, but again, why Polydatus?

And what of Kisara?

Seth loved her more than anyone could devise. He was prepared die a thousand deaths for her.

More.

Anything.

His heart was wild with emotions, and he was finding it increasingly more difficult to concentrate on his work, and keep a professional tone when speaking to her in front of others. Her status was steadily rising, and her attire no longer consisted of rags. She was also not the stick thin woman she had been, but was now a much healthier weight, making her figure more striking. Isis had had her bombarded with lessons in reading, writing, literature and many other strenuous activites. She learned quickly, and became a companion to the High Priestess, who much relished the female company and assitance. Isis had Seth and Kisara sussed. Being an Empath, she could sense the tenderness the two held for each other, and remained the only one to know, although Seth didn't know she knew, so that might pose some future problems if he didn't announce anything, which, she thought, he wouldn't. She also saw that, if, Seth felt so strongly that he wanted to marry her, she couldn't stay a servant. She would have to have some form of significance, and Isis was discreetly giving it to her. Surprisingly, without Seth's noticing, however he was too busy juggling his working life with his love life to quite see it. He seemed to have grown up quite a bit since falling in love, and, although he hid it well, showed miniscule signs of it. Isis' eye was well-trained to these finer points. Whenever she mentioned Kisara, just out of the blue, Seth would go 'huh?', as if he hadn't heard her properly. He _never_ did that, except when he was anxious, and his voice wavered slightly, but this was occuring less and less frequently as he was growing wise to her tactics, but she could still see it in his eyes. As he walked briskly toward her, she decided to try it;

"Hello Seth, you haven't seen Kisara have you?" she asked. He didn't waver, or 'huh' innocently, but was perfectly solemn.

"Yes, an errand for Priest Shaada. And..." he said, melancoly saturating his voice, "We have a problem..."

"What do you mean, they saw Polydatus?" she asked him confusedly. He paced the room, his hands behind his back, his eyes down at the floor in thought.

"It is true, I have spoken with the Magi." he said.

"Has he been seen since?"

"Supposedly so. A few scribes saw him rooting through some Hispanian **(A/N: Hispania is what they called Spain) **documents, but after they looked to each other to confirm what they had just saw, he was gone. And also, the Cook claimed to have seen him wondering the Great Hall when he was cleaning away after the last gathering, but when he rubbed his eyes to check he wasn't hallucinating, he was gone. Disappeared."

"How odd!"

"Precisely."

"Do you think it's just a projection?"

"Maybe, but my Abhorsen senses are telling me it isn't."

"What was he looking through the Hispanian documents for?"

"They were the ones we discussed with him when he visited. He was also seen in the Great Hall and by the Nile. The places of his last hours. I just don't know what it means." he rambled, "I mean, I can;t sense any necromancers or demons around here now. I'm the Abhorsen, not even the strongest cloaking spells can cloud my senses, but I can sense a ghost, like he never properly died, but he did. I killed him. I ensured he _could _not come back!"

"I know, steady. Calm down. I understand... well, I don't, but I see your perspsective. Are you sure he was just a jumped-up bureaucrat?"

Seth thought. What was immune to Death? Nothing. Everything everywhere has a time to die. Some things rested close to the borders, and in the Shadow Realm, which was the stage between Life and Death that made the transition between the two sometimes easier, sometimes harder, but nothing could be both. So what?

Then, he had a brainwave.

What if Polydatus existed on another plain? Dead spirits could be preserved in alternate plains under the covet of a necromancer. If he had never truly been alive in the first place, it would not have mattered if Seth had sent him beyond the Nineth Gate. Just because necromancers couldn't bring back the truly Dead, that didn't mean that they could summon them and then control them. That must be it. Polydatus must be Dead, gone past the Nineth Gate well before Seth sent him there, summoned by someone else, and then confined to another plain, existing in a 'world' parallel to theirs. It would explain the disappearing, and the ghost-sensing. It would also explain why only the Magi, Scribes and Cook had seen him, because they had magic enough to see his attempts to come back into this world. It was also easier to 'relive' the final moments of your life as opposed to your childhood when confined to a parallel plain. But who summoned him?

"Maybe he wasn't." he replied quietly, "I've just thought, he was looking through Hispanian documents right? Nothing special about those, just accounts and minutes, but I was thinking about the time Mana tried to hi-jack the Sphinx. And what are the origins of the Great Sphinx?"

"Rhetorical question answered: The Great Spinx was a winged mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a woman. It was said that when Hathor, in her lifetime, transformed into Selket the lioness for the last time, the spell went awry as Hathor was injured and weak, and her body changed, but she hadn't the strength to complete it and her head remained human. She was so disturbed by her own appearance, she fled to the desert, and after a full-moon, she died of dehydration and hunger. Although Hathor's spirit rose to divinity and became a goddess, the body of the creature she had become somehow lived on. It was also said that Hathor had, perhaps unintentionally, left a part of herself in it, the angry, sad, demoralised part, and that part took over completely. As it became known to humans, it was christened 'the Spinx', and wreaked havoc and struck fear into the hearts everyone, even those of the Magi themselves. However, when one of the Magi somehow managed to wound her - yes it is a 'she' by the way - she went back into the desert and prepared to die again. But a lost young child found her, and being to young to know of the dangers, applied a healing potion to the wound and it healed. The Spinx, although catagorically a beast, was still a spin-off of a human spirit, and became attached to this boy, who, it was later found out, a prince. When the boy was taken away from her and back to the palace, it is said that she screamed a scream so loud it shattered the gates of both Heaven and Hell, and she retired to a remote Grecian island, never to be seen by humans, for then anyway. Sixty years later, when the Pharoah was pronounced dead on the Grecian island, she flew back to Egypt, and her tears brought an immense rainstorm for a half-moon and one day. Her mourning was such, that, she sat at the pyramid at Giza, and her own weeping dried her of fluid and she turned to stone, always to guard the little boy who had healed her so long ago."

"I know the story, but the Sphinx is... was... a living creature. Good or Evil, we were never quite sure, but she could be brought back to Life couldn't it? If someone really wanted to?"

Isis pulled a face.

"Iiiiiitt's not iiiimpossible..." she said, "But where do the Hispanian documents come into it?"

"At the time of the death of the Pharoah, some Hispanian bureaucrats came to pay their respects because that Pharoah had provided a supporting army in the Battle of the Latin Waters, remember? The one between Hispania and Italia that they fought on the sea? Anyway, there was an apothacary present, and legend has it he knocked up a potion to paralyse or confound the Sphinx, should she attack them."

"But if the Spinx is stone she doesn't need paralysing or confounding."

"Yes, but he recorded his potion, and gave it to us as part of a mourning gift. The ingredients and the method. If Polydatus knew what was in the potion to paralyse her, he would be able to work out what was needed in a potion to reawaken her."

"So you're saying that if he did see anything, he now knows how to bring the Spinx back to Life!"

"Yes. That, is our problem."

"But hasn't Mana tried to do it... many times before?"

"Mana is a fourteen year-old apprentice whose experience cannot hope to balance her enthusiasm for potioneering or spell-casting. Great potential she has, but it has yet to be fulfilled. And we still have the problem of whoever put Polydatus on that plain."

"What can we do?"

"The Sphinx was loyal to the Pharoh of the time. Her heart must have been somewhat warmed, so maybe, just maybe, it still is."

"My guess is that she would be loyal to whoever released her."

"I agree. I will take care of our necromancer, but we can make the potion."

"Isn't it a bit shaky though, I was under the impression that the apothacary deliberately left some bits out so people _couldn't_ reverse it."

"Then I will put the bits back in." he said challengingly. She smirked and walked off, her robe and headdress billowing behind her. Seth put the scrolls that were under his arm under the table out of his way, and began to collect the various weird and wonderful items he would need for the special potion.

Ingredient phials, pieces of spare papyrus and ladles cluttered the table next to which the crucible sat, the fire roaring around the base. A small, busy, yet strangely comforting bubbling sound came from inside the pot, making Isis feel like she had just come into the kitchen where her mother was cooking broth. A very warm, happy sound, combined with the small trail of white vapour that rose from the surface of the contents made her feel like it was just a normal potion.

However, the face of the potioneer did not.

Seth had a quill and was scribbling notes on one of the pieces of papyrus, and occasionally flat-stirred the surface, coaxing the vapour to the air. He looked over his workstation with an experienced eye, understanding every small detail of his occupation. He broke off a small piece of something and crushed it in his palm, before sprinkling it lightly in a circular pattern, once clockwise, once counterclockwise. The white vapour turned a greeny-blue colour and illuminated his face and clothes. As she approached she was flooded by the same colour, save for a few shadows around her face, similar to those that occur when you shine a torch under your chin. He was concentrating furiously, sweat visible at his brow, muttering to himself slightly as he thought. Isis picked up a jar and read the hieroglphs on the front.

"Jackelbeet, exactly which empire are you trying to blow off the map Seth?"

"I'm just taking precautions, and Jacklebeet's effects change when mixed with the correct proportions of black poppyseed. Instead of quite often causing explosions, it becomes inversed, so it actually implodes, bringing energy to the Sphinx, which will form the final jolt it needs to awaken." he said, not looking away from his brew. She raised her eyebrows as if she stood corrected. She hadn't known that, but Seth could always be relied upon to know these things... Actually, Seth could be relied upon to know everything about all things magical, being the Abhorsen of course, and even without the Charter Magic, he was incredibly talented, and had a natural flair for it. Being as amazingly clever as he was also made the more complex aspects of potion brewing easy, and to him it was a natural as breathing. Isis was glad that he was as gifted as he was. She didn't know any other sorcerers in Egypt - with maybe the exceptions of Mahado or Akunadin - who could knock up a potion without any Book or assistance. He was well known for making things up on the dot, and knew all the ingredients and their properties better than any other, more so thatn Mahado or Akunadin.

"How far are you off finished?" she asked, grimacing. It was a risky question.

"Not far. I think I've cracked it." he replied, adding some sage to the mixture. There was a pouffing sound and a circle of mauve vapour erupted from the crucible. He picked up an empty phial and filled it with the potion, which was a bright blue colour, the colour nowadays one would expect copper sulphate solution to look like. He corked it and shook it smartly. As he did so, Aeneas ran through the doorway, his breath racing;

"Master!" he panted,

"How many times must I ask you to call me Seth?" he asked, deliberately ignorant of the child's exhausted lungs.

"Ma... Seth..." he said, "Hands...gasp Shadow Hands..." he wheezed.

"Where!"

"East horizon..." he said, pointing in the direction of the Red Sea. That was alright, Seth thought, Hands would never cross running water, and the Nile was between them and the palace. But it wouldn't take them long to conjure some form of bridge over it. He suddenly forgot the Sphinx and turned his attention to the Rod and the Abhorsen's Blade. He could sense them, and smelt their yet weak stench lingering in the air.

"How many?"

"A gross, probably more..." **(A/N: A gross is 144)**

Seth thought. If running water failed to stop them, then fore would, in which case Mahado's power of Pyrokinesis would come in useful, but, accomplished as Mahado was, he was no Charter Mage, nowhere near, and Seth knew that Mahado would be able to fight Shadow Hands, but he shouldn't have to, and as yet did not know how to, but Seth also knew that Mahado would not forgive him for leaving him out of a fight in which he could help, but he was one of Seth's dearest friends, and Seth didn't want to risk him getting injured or, more likely, killed.

_'I will have to go alone...' _he thought, and, abandoning the potion on the table, he orbed out.

Seth orbed onto what seemed to be a desert plateau, and although dust and sand hung in the somewhat stale air, there was none on the ground, which had been reduced to huge cracks, which could easily be someone's death should they trip and fall. This place seemed so familiar, he thought, but he couldn't place it however sure he was that he had been here before. He began to nimbly run over the ruts and cracks, his senses telling him exactly where to put his feet. There was a massive canyon where a lava river ran below, but Seth was more interested in what was on the other side of the canyon; Ranks of Shadow Hands, all headless and walking with their arms rigidly out in front of them, like zombies... Well, technically they were zombies, and Seth grimaced at the sight and now heavy stench of the Dead. Rotting and decaying flesh hung from crumbling bones that were only held together by a necromancer's charm. What disturbed him the most though, was the fact that all these repulsive creatures had once been human. Human souls, that should have passed through the Nineth Gate to the Stars and to their final Rest, but as a result of years maybe centuries of lingering in Death had become grossly deformed and disfigured into what they were now. They had long lost the gift of speech, that which only the Bell Dyrim could restore, and now all that could be heard from them now were mad battle cries and grunts. They ambled towards the very edge of the canyon, and stopped, like an army that was unsure of why it was waiting. If they had had heads, and eyes with which to look, they would have been looking to each other in uncertainty. Seth mentally blocked the noise of them out, and heard his long white cloak flapping in the dead breeze.

They had come here only to fight him.

Only to attempt to kill him.

Only to be slain at his hand and sword.

Seth suddenly became aware of the two Egyptian daggers that were hidden in the wrappings around his calves and shins, one on each leg, the cool metal strangely pleasant against his calves, contrasting fiercely with the rising heat of his skin. Charter Magic roared into life, and at that very moment, the Shadow Hands shuffled nervously.

The Abhorsen had come to send them back.

Back into Death.

Seth closed his eyes lightly and began to summon his Charter Magic, he was going to need it. His mind filled with Charter Marks and his muscles stiffened to embrace the sheer power that surged through him. His Charter Mark glowed fiercely on his forehead, and, if you looked carefully, a sapphire blue fire that was barely visible to the mortal eye could be seen, seemingly on him. A wind began to blow, like on that day when he was merely thirteen and had destroyed the Great Hall, leaving nothing whole.

It was that kind of power that filled his mind, body and soul now. More. But now, it was under his control. Completely. He found himself enjoying it immensely, and opened his eyes, which now seemed deeper and brighter, as if the fate of the world began and ended with them, right there. Every breath he took he felt more power gather. The Hands began to assemble themselves, and, someone was creating a Free Magic forcefield over the giant rift. A bridge for the Hands to use. Seth held his hands up level with his shoulders, his arms out straight. Thunder clapped, shaking the very Heavens. The Elders wouldn't be getting much sleep that night. Charter Marks materialised in his mind's eye, as clear and bright as they had been on the day the Great Charter was woven.

_"Tjav kaere, duokt cadeln..."_

He whispered. He could feel the power concentrating even more as he said it, his voice heavily moist with Charter Magic. He shuddered at finding he could dominate what he thought impossible to harness.

_"Khewj haakt, nijeth vralu..."_

The wind blew stronger and Seth felt all the restraints on his magic, all the boundries, his limits, his thresholds being blasted away. Smashed into smitherines, allowing access to parts of himself he never knew existed. He felt free. He felt invincible, although his conscience told him he wasn't, but little did he know that he was as near to invincible as anyone, anything, would ever be.

_"Dromo squabet, kufu nimesakh!"_

He spoke the final Marks, and his voice almost hit a shout. He brought his arms straight out infront of him, his hands straight, his thumbs on top, like he was forcefully offering a bowl of something to someone and waiting for them to take it. Of course, he was not offering them anything, but concentrating his power onto the Hands.He let everything go, and focused his mind onto the Hands.

The Hands began to scream. Every one in unison, and the ground shook beneath his feet.

Then, there was an explosion.

The biggest explosion Seth had ever seen, let alone thought he was capable of causing. Hungry, brutal red flames devoured and fed on the Hands, who continued to scream as each one burst into flames and vanquished. Fire lit the black Egyptian night, rolling up into the air and burning out, only to be replaced by more, but the sand would not catch light, and eventually, with some prompting from Seth, the flames died, leaving an empty plateau where the army of Shadow Hands had been.

The smell of Free Magic that was only apparent to Charter Mages themselves loitered on the breeze that would, had Seth not been wearing a headdress, whipped his fringe from his eyes. His Charter Mark faded, and he felt calm. Calm like you might when you have finished an exam that had been looming for ages that was now gonw and out of the way. He felt free, held back by nothing, and everything that gave him stress was cast adrift. He needed that, he thought, and felt waves of discreet happiness trying to escape.

This did not last long however, because, his whitelighter senses were screaming at him. He could hear Isis' voice, he could feel frustration, anxiety and fear. Without second thought, he left the plateau, back to the palace, where, like he had never thought, he would be in for a shock...


	14. Hijacking the Great Sphinx!

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Okay, A/N before we start, all the stuff about the darklighter arrows is made up too. You know what's true and what's not lol! It gets described for effect.**

**Chapter 14: Hi-jacking the Great Sphinx**

Seth orbed into the, well, an 'office', I suppose you could call it, to meet a very frustrated Isis, who was flicking madly through the Book of Shadows.

"The necromancer..." she almost sobbed, "He has come here, having sent his Shadow Hands to distract you. He is in the Palace... People are hearing his voice... and... and... " she stuttered between vain attempts to stifle her shaking voice, "He says he wants to kill us, to make you suffer. Just so you can hear us scream! Then, he wants your life!"

He didn't lend her any comforting words, he knew that she would shun them. She hated being the helpless one, and would do anything to prove that she was independant of the male Priests. Including him. He frowned slightly at it, because she needed comfort. She wasn't a man, and should stop trying to cope with these things like one. But Isis hated the fact that women were completely ruled by men. Isis and himself were both of the same status, only outranked by the Pharaoh. So why was Seth hierachally more powerful that she?

Because he was a man, that's why.

As she was a woman and he was a man, he was able to override her decisions and even tell her what to do, purely because he happened to be male. She was the only woman in power. Knowing how she hated it, and knowing the disrespect he would show his elder, his colleague, his friend, he refrained from this, and considered her his equal in everything. He respected her, and, from High Priest Seth, that was a hell of a lot. But now was a time he wished he would allow himself to order her to stop.

"You will need more than that." he said solemnly, walking over to his desk and pulling out a box compartment. He shuffled and rummaged through some papers and scrolls, apparently trying to get to the bottom, and since it was magically charmed, to give it bigger capacity without taking up too much space itself, Seth had to lean right over it and root through the stuff all the way up to his elbows. Eventually, after pushing the final papers aside, his hand brushed something very cold, and he smirked to himself at his successful find. Out of the box, he pulled a large book, bound in black leather, which was slightly cracked and dulled from age, and had a silver clasp and rim. There appeared to be no title, but Seth waved his hand over it, murmering some Free Magic Marks, Marks that left a vile taste upon his tongue after having spoken them, and sent an unintentional shiver down his spine.

**_'The Book of the Dead ' _**

****Appeared in spindley writing, which looked very disturbingly like it had been written in blood. Isis flinched at the sight and presence of it, and never took her eyes from it.

"The Book of the Dead?" she asked, feeling the cold, clammy air it brought to the normally somewhat cheerful room, "Why that? Surely there must be some other..."

"We are dealing with a necromancer, therefore yes, it is necessary." he interrupted her mid-sentance.

"Seth..." she said, "I'm no necromancer. Nor I am an Abhorsen. I can't read it. I want nothing to do with it..."

"What did this necromancer look like?" he interrupted her again, cutting off her rambling, "Identifying them would make a good start."

"Yes of course." she said, holding back a gulp, "Slightly tanned skin, less so than ours, about 5ft 11, dark brown hair, carried a bow and silver arrows, dressed smartly, all in black."

"Anything on his powers?"

"Nothing, the only thing that made him different from any other necromancer was the fact that he had a bow and carried silver arrows on his back." she said. Seth thought for a moment, before appearing to have been hit by an idea, and flicked quickly through the pages, easily resisting the evil within them. He stopped at a page about midway through the book and laid the tip of his finger to the papyrus;

_"Lesser Free Magic Punters," _he read, _"Free Magic is strongly hereditory, and only if two generations of of a Free Magic family resist their callings, then is it not roused unless it is the intention of the punter. A more distant descendant of a necromancer can earn their powers by practice and time."_

"What in Hell does that mean?"

"It means that if two generations can stay clean, then their Free Magic is not automatically active, and they can become evil at their free will, instead of it being their definate Fate."

"Oh." she said. Seth continued;

_"Depending on the destiny and unbringing of the individual, descendants, if they are converted to good, become witches and sometimes even whitelighters, but if they remain evil, they are always darklighters." _he read, pausing at the word darklighter.

Darklighters were the exact opposites of whitelighters, except they didn't have charges, or respond to callings from higher ranking evil, but it seemed that they existed solely to kill whitelighters. Whitelighters were not easy prey. Quite the contrary. Witches protected innocents, whitelighters protected witches, and with powers like orbing, healing and reconstitution, they were incredibly difficult to kill or vanquish. Demons loathed them, almost as much as the darklighters, because they got in the way.

They came between their prey and them.

Many demons were killed by whitelighters, and therefore demons often requested help from, or hired darklighters to kill the whitelighters, so there was no one to protect the witches.

It didn't matter what the price was, nor what the consequences were. If given half the oppurtunity, the darklighter would always, but always, try to kill the whitelighter.

Darklighters used poison arrows, which were silver in colour and contained a venom that was particularly lethal to whitelighters. Fatal to whitelighters, if another could not be found to heal them in time. It was slow, and more painful than can ever be imagined by those who have not been struck by a darklighter arrow. As soon as the arrow hits the whitelighter, their muscles buckle and they collapse before they can even pull the arrow out, and remain unconscious for ten to fifteen minutes, in which time the poison 'kills' their whitelighter powers and distinctly weakens any others they may have. When they come around, the pain begins. More pain than can be described in words. Their muscles stiffen and moving becomes difficult. Their temperatures go sky high and they break out in a fever, although feeling that they are cold. Breathing also becomes difficult and rasping, they break out into a cold sweat and their skin pales almost like death. Darklighters, being as sick as they were, often took bets on what would kill the whitelighter first; the poison, or the pain.

More often than not it was the pain.

Seth was lucky, he had never been hit by a darklighter arrow, but had once had to heal many whitelighters who had, and it was one of the most disturbing sights he had ever seen. Mortal, mental, and magical torture. This necromancer sounded like a darklighter who was trying to regain his Free Magic powers. Not good. Not good at all.

"What's happening?" said a pretty, innocent voice from the door. Isis strained her neck so as to look around Seth, and Seth turned around to see Kisara stood warily, not sure whether she should come in or not. He looked at her pitifully, and with his majestic blue eyes, beckoned her come in.

"A darklighter trying to make a name for himself." said Isis, not wanting to sound nervous in front of her companion, "Seth will take care of him."

"A darklighter?" she asked quietly, having been recently well-instructed on the dangers on darklighter poison. She walked slowly toward her sweetheart, not breaking eye contact with him.

"I will go and vanquish it..." he said, but his voice got quieter, and trailed away into nothing as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. His left arm coiled itself around her waist, drawing her nearer, whereas his right stroked her pale hair and back. Isis smiled. But it faded as the Empath recognised the strength of their love as the strongest she had ever sensed. Much stronger. Just being able to sense was even painful. The connection between them was such that, she knew, if one died, then the other would die also. This worried her slightly, but as she saw him kiss her tenderly on the forehead and whispered sweet nothings in her ear, Isis cast her qualms away. If something happened that, in normal circamstances, should prove fatal to the one, the other's love alone would probably be strong enough to keep the one alive, and she knew that Seth's powers were such that he could come back from Death. He'd done it before, and he was stronger now.

But strong enough to withstand a darklighter arrow?

_With Mana_

"Come on, come oooonnnn!" ... ...

"DAMNIT!"

Mana collapsed to her knees, staff in hand at the edge of the Nile. The fish had got away from her spell, squirmed out of her grasp. True, fishes did that, but Mana should be able to keep hiold of one single fish. She sighed,

_"How do Mahado and Seth do it!" _she thought, as she dipped her hand in the cool water and splashed some on her reddened face. She saw some colours reflected in the water through the ripples and realised that some people were standing behind her. She waited for the ripples to clear, and then could see the faces of three girls, and six boys, a bit older than herself, wearing the strangest garments she had ever seen.

"Excuse me..."

"Ahh!" said Mana, whipping around and almost falling into the Nile, "Who... who are you!"

The one boy, who was very short and looked suspiciously like Pharoah Atem was the one who spoke. On further inspection, she could see a girl who looked just like Kisara, but had red hair and hazel eyes, and a very tall boy, or man, whatever, who was the spitting image of Seth. The other two girls and two boys she didn't recognise.

"Atem?" she asked the shorter boy, and then turned to the tall one, "Seth?"

"Who?" asked the tall one, in a very sadistic voice.

"Don't be frightened we won't hurt you!" said the shorter one, "My name's Yugi Mutou."

"Hey Yüg, doesn't she look like the Dark Magician Girl?" the blond boy asked dumbly.

"Yugi? Atem if this is your idea of a joke..."

"We're from the future."

Mana immediatly shut up and stared at them.

"What?"

"We came back in time."

"Why?" she said daftly. Who would want to come back here? "And why do look like the Ph... people I know?"

"This is gonna sound stupid, but... we are the reincarnations of the people you know." Yugi explained, looking as if her were desperately hoping for her to believe him.

"Ridiculous." the tall one muttered under his breath.

"And, who are you?" said Mana, addressing the one who looked like Seth. He smirked, which meant; 'you are pathetic'.

"That's Seto Kaiba, but he, er.. prefers us to call him by his surname."

"For obvious reasons." he said coolly. He clearly didn't want to be there, that was for sure.

"Okay, so, why are you here?" she asked, still not fully trusting the group.

"To help my Yami remember his past here."

"Yami... You're the reincarnation of the Pharaoh!"

"Yeah... Can you help us?"

"Yes." she said, "But there's something I have to take care of first. Meet me by the palace..."

"Alright, maybe that didn't work..." said Seth, orbing a darklighter arrow away from him. A massive roar/scream erupted from a nearby place, making Seth whip around and run out onto the palace courtyard, the necromancer in pursuit. He stopped and gazed in awe, as did the necromancer. There, a creature with a lion's body, a woman's head and wings, landed in the courtyard, with Mana on board.

"Alright nobody move! I have a Sphinx here and I'm not afraid to use it!"

"Amun Ra..." said Seth, looking over his shoulder to see the necromancer rooted where he stood. He took this oppurtunity, and thrust his sword into the man. Charter Marks blared down the blade, and he screamed and burst into flames, making a massive explosion, that blackened the pristine white walls and singed all that could be singed. Yugi and the others looked in amazement from their position behind a nearby wall. The had seen very little, just the explosion, but they knew - even Kaiba from the bottom of his heart - that Magic had something to do with this. The Sphinx leant down and let Mana jump off it's back.

"Seth! I remembered the Sphinx!"

"I can see." he said, his voice slightly shakey, nodding extensively, not taking his eye off the creature. The others came from behind the wall to get better view. At the same time, Atem came out into the burnt courtyard.

**"SETH!"**

"Here we go..." muttered Seth under his breath.

**"SETH! YOU BLEW UP THE PALACE! ... ... ...AGAIN!"**

"Yes, and I am very sorry about that..." he said.

"I am going to kill you..."

"That's very nice Atem but I have people to kill me for me thank you for the offer but it really is unnecessary." he replied. Mana beckoned the gang, who as yet hadn't seen Seth, or the front of him anyway, to come forward.

"Seth..." said Mana guiltily, as if she were a small child just about to ask an adult something to which the answer would almost certainly be no.

"Yeeees?" he asked in the same tone.

"I would like you to know that I had nothing to do with this, but, um... there are some people here to see you."

"Me?" he asked, folding his arms smartly.

"Yes, er, friends," she said, addressing the gang, "I would like you to meet the Pharaoh, and High Priest Seth."

Seth turned around to face them, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of strangely adorned teenagers.

The gang's eyes widened at, not so much the sight of Atem, but the sight of Seth. Kaiba was feeling a contrast of anger, nerves, and ridicule. This young man looked just like him. He was him. His skin was tanned from the Egyptian sun, but sure enough, it was him.

"What the Hell was that?" asked the blonde woman, who's name was Mai, referring to the explosion.

"That was a necromancer." said Seth coolly, to reveal that his voice was identical to Kaiba's.

"No, that was Seth blowing up the necromancer." said Atem. Mai didn't reply for confusion.

"My apologies, this doesn't happen everyday." said Isis, who had come out to join them and was now standing by Seth. Seth had to stifle his laughter at that comment, and it was apparent to the others.

"Ishizu!" asked the red-haired girl, who's name was Serenity.

"No." she said, "But close enough. My name is Isis." she replied. It was clear from her attire that she was a High Priestess.

"What happened here?" asked a concerned Mahado.

"Seth got rid of that necromancer." said Isis.

"Really? Good on you, aaaaaannndd..." he trailed away at the sight of the Sphinx, "MANA, WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE SPHINX!"

"I cast a little spell, and borrowed a little potion..." she said, tracing patterns in the ground with her foot. He raised his eyebrows.

"Mana how many times have I told you no hi-jacking the Sphinx!"

"Oh you and Seth were going to do it anyway and neither of you were getting round to it!"

"That is not the point." he said solemnly, "You could have been killed."

"I'm sorry..."

"I'm just concerned for you." he said, "At least that necromancer is gone."

"Whoa whoa! Wait up 'ere! Necro-what?" asked Joey.

"A necromancer. The highest evil ranking, above demons and darklighters. Have dominion over the Dead and Free Magic." said Seth calmly, but he too was curious about this man who was his reincarnation. He hadn't even died yet for Ra's sake! Seth would have loved to continuing his pondering, but was interrupted by a shrill call from his inner ear. A charge. Great.

"I have to go." he said to Isis, "You take care of them." And with that he orbed out in blue lights. The gang watched in disbelief as he disappeared.

"What was that? How did he do that?" asked Téa nervously. Kaiba suddenly felt very, very disturbed.

"Never you mind. Come, tell me what you have to tell."

_"Amun Ra whatever next!"_ thought Isis as she questioned these teenagers about their little quest.

"So, there are six priests right?" asked Yugi.

"Four priests, one High Priest, and one High Priestess." Isis replied, "And of course, the Pharaoh."

"And, the Pharaoh is the most powerful one?" asked Joey.

"This is complicated; Pharaoh is is possession on the Millennium Puzzle, and, as a right of ownership, has the ultimate dominion over Shadow Magic, it does not bend itself to his control, but it does sometimes choose to serve him. However, Shadow Magic is not the only type of magic. There is also Wiccan Magic, Demonic Magic and Whitelighter Magic being the main two, Charter Magic and Free Magic are both rarer and many times stronger."

"...Explain." said Téa.

"There are, not counting Charter Magic, two types of good Magic. Wiccan Magic and Whitelighter Magic. Wiccan Magic can be anything except Whitelighter Magic, things like Pyrokinesis and Invisibility. Witches use their powers to protect Innocents - good people with no powers. Whitelighters... are human guardian angels. Whitelighters protect witches. Their charges. They hear the lives of their charges constantly in their heads, and when a charge calls for their whitelighter, they can be there at a moments notice..."

"Don't they kinda need to get there though?" asked Joey, again, rather dumbly.

"Whitelighters have a power called Orbing. It is a form of teleportation, and also a form of Telekinesis - Telekinetic Orbing, it's called. They can orb to anywhere in the world and orb various items to anywhere they like. They also have the power of Healing, which is fairly self-explanatory, and Reconstitution, which is reforming after you've been blown up."

"So, what are you?"

"I'm a witch. My signiture power is Clairvoyance, but I also have Telepathy - I can read your mind, Empathy - I can read your heart, Levitation, and Astral Projection - I can project my soul from my body to anywhere. Priest Mahado is a witch, with Pyrokinesis, Telekinesis and Levitation. Pharaoh Atem is a witch, with Telekinesis, Levitation and Premonition, Priest Karim is a witch, with Alethia - knowing and forcing people to tell the Truth, and Hydrokinesis - manipulation of water. Priest Shaada is a witch, with Telepathy, Invisibility, Immortality and Remembrance. Almost everyone in this palace is a witch."

"No... whitelighter... people, then?"

"Actually yes. High Priest Seth is a whitelighter, but he's a lot of things and it's a long story."

"Heaven knows, we got the time."

"Well, to Egypt's people, Seth is a witch like us. He keeps his whitelighter powers hidden, but he is our whitelighter. But Seth is also a Charter Mage. A very special Charter Mage." she rambled, shooting an annoyed look at Kaiba, who had long since the beginning of this conversation been switched off, "Charter Mages are immensely powerful sorcerers with domain over Life. They have every specialist power. There is something called the Great Charter, and Charter Mages are able to draw Charter Marks from it and use them to their will. Each Mark had a different name, meaning and effect."

"So why is Seth special?"

"Seth is the Abhorsen. The most powerful sorcerer in existence. The Abhorsen also has Free Magic, which is the evil equivilant to Charter Magic, and wields the necromantic Bells. The _only _one who can combine Free Magic with Charter Magic. The one charged with the ultimate protection of the world. Being the Abhorsen is one of the most, if not, the most difficult obstacle Life can throw at you. Seth is that one. Many times more powerful than the Pharaoh." she finished, leaving the gang speechless.

Silence.

Until Kaiba snorted in ridicule. Isis stared at him.

"And seeing as you _are_ one Kaiba, you should make an attempt to start acting your age." she scolded, earning herself a death glare from Kaiba;

"Oh yes, " he said in a very sarcastic, sing-song voice, "I'm, I'm a sorcerer with powers and I have to save the world! If I had a penny for every time I heard that..."

"Do you mock me?" Isis growled, "If so, see for yourself!"

Her timing was perfect. At that very moment, Seth orbed in, making everyone, including Yugi, back up against the wall in fear.

"Oh... oh my God..." Yugi gasped, "How the Hell...?"

"Did I do it?" Seth smirked. Kaiba felt truly alone, and noticed his heart rate slowing in shock. Seth chuckled, "Typical. You never did get used to it."

"To what?"

"Me orbing. I would have thought that after 5000 years you might have got used to it. Obviously not."

Kaiba felt the cold of the wall against his back, every muscle in his body stiffened and he felt weak. Not so much because he had seen magic, well, he had seen it before, the sight of it was no longer phasing him, but the horrible truth that everything he had ever been told was false. Gozaburo had brought him up to believe that magic didn't exist. Every part of him wanted to push it away, fight it with his very being, but he was finding that Magic didn't frighten him. He could live with it being around him and he would just tut and ignore it. But what he was afraid of, was it rearing its head in him.

He had been told many times that he possessed magic powers, but had shunned it for all it was worth. But, he had noticed, that things were starting to happen. Just the other day, when he was stressed in his office at home, he - it must have been him - made a glass of water explode. He didn't know why, or how, but all he knew was, that in the moments leading up to it and the few hours after, the unnatural strength he felt surging through him was amazing. What disturbed him more was that a distant, unknown part of him, liked it. Deep down, in his heart, Magic was not foreign to him. It was his mind that despised it. he was all too aware of this violent contrast. It was like having the mini-angel on the one shoulder and the mini-devil on the other, both whispering in his ears. One was powered by curiosity he never knew he possessed, and the other by sheer stubbornness. If he gave in to it, Yugi and the dweeb patrol had won. And that, was not going to happen. Oh Hell...

He felt repressed.

He felt depressed.

At least Mokuba was safe. That's all that mattered to him. He would go through it infinate times for his beloved little brother. But he would, not, ever, give in to them. He looked at his counterpart as if her were a different species. Seth turned his attention to Kaiba and smirked at him;

"I assure you, that I have not been reincarnated as a mere mortal." he said, "I can also assure you, that I have not been reincarnated as a fool."

"I'm not a fool..."

"No." Seth finished, "But let me tell you something: You are no more a mortal than you are a fool. You are capable of feats _you_ could not even begin to imagine!" he almost snarled. Kaiba's eyes narrowed, and he took his weight onto his two feet again, and off the wall. His hands balled into fists, so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

"I'll cope." he growled.

"I'm glad to see that my stubbornness is alive in you, although your powers are somehow dormant..." Seth analysed somewhat frighteningly. Even the rest of the gang thought he was crazy. Kaiba snorted again,

"You're insa..."

"I can soon change that...

_Restore thy powers, Blessèd be,_

_Deliver thy soul from dormancy;_

_Thine heart is strong, _

_Thy mind is set,_

_The mortal way, thou must forget_."

Pain suddenly exploded from deep inside Kaiba, and everyone noticed his eyes widen and his jaw clench itself shut. He looked at Seth with hateful eyes, and then shut them as the pain rapidly worsened. Underneath the agony, he could just about feel a horrid eruption of strength, one that flooded through his mucles, sharpening the anguish. His mind came to an abrupt halt as he felt a drunken-like stupor claim it. He felt like a loose cannon, like he might hurt or even kill anyone if they came to near. This vile sensation was followed by a wave of nausea, and with it, what felt uncannily to close to claustrophobia. He felt cooped up within himself, like his body was preventing his spirit from soaring. The pain then brusquely became more intense and he fell to his knees, using all the will he had left to prevent himself from crying out from it. A new, burning torture settled upon his forehead, and his hand flew to his wet brow. The others had started kneeling around him and saying his name:

_"Kaiba... Kaiba..." _

He heard Yugi's voice, then Serenity's, then Mokuba's. But these voices became mere whispers to his deaf ears, and soon, he could hear nothing, but his own brain screaming at him, and every nerve aflame. He felt isolated in this anguish, within himself, and began to fight it with what was left of his strength. He didn't know it, but his muscles had relaxed against his will, and he collapsed.

"KAIBA!" everyone yelled, except Isis, who kept a sincere face and remained in her position a few feet away, as did Seth.

"What have you done to him? What did you do!" said Yugi in distress. Seth kept a straight face and said nothing. Serenity put her fingers to his neck for a pulse. There was one. Just. It was very weak. She was about to shout at the High Priest, but a faint blue glow from beneath Kaiba's fringe. She flicked it up, and her eyes were met by the sight of a peculiar mark, burning with a blue fire in the centre of his forehead.

"Whoa... Uh, guys..." she said, not taking her eyes off the mark, "What's up with that?"


	15. Conversation over Dinner

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Yeah, this is supposed to be another funny so Seth and Mahado might seem a little OOC! No yaoi here.There is nothing between Seto and Seth apart from the fact that they are counterparts. No. Just no.**

**Conversation over Dinner**.

"That can't be good this is not good at all!" said Yugi.

"Actually it is." said Marik slowly from the back. **(A/N: modern day Marik not AE Marik) **

"Eh?"

"It's a Charter Mark. You know, as in Charter Magic? Yeah that." he said. The others looked at him as if he were naked, "Need I say more?"

"WELL YEAH! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO KAIBA! HE..."

"He will be fine." said Seth, "In the mean-time, I have a Spinx to take care of and a horse to ride."

"Horse? SPHINX!"

"Yes, the Sphinx is in fact currently alive... Another one of Mana's mishaps." he said calmly, "Mah-el-salah-mah" **(A/N: This mean's 'goodbye' in Arabic but that's just how you pronounce it, not how you spell it I don't know how to spell it.) **

"Mah-el-salah-mah." she replied, as he walked out to Mana and the waiting Sphinx, "Time for some food I think."

_A few hours later..._

**YUGI'S POV (A/N: No one hardly ever uses Yugi's POV. Let's see what the little dude has to say...)**

Hmmm... I raised my head from my arm, on which I had almost nodded off. The High Priestess had left, apparently for food about an hour ago, and now the sun was low on the horizon. Where the Hell was she? I could hear the content whicker of horses munching at their nets and the sound of fast flowing river and, when I got up to look out of the window, what appeared to be an oasis with a small waterfall. This is so weird. Most of the others had dozed off in the sweltering heat, except Marik perhaps, who could have been pretending. I wasn't brave enough to find out. Kaiba was still out cold. He looked pale and positively sick. But, even in his comatose state, I could sense a strange heaviness around him, one that had not been there before. When I knelt at his side I suddenly got a splitting headache and my muscles ached, like what he was suffering from was rubbing off on me.

Poor Kaiba.

He wasn't the only one questioning his sanity. I too was worried if I was being silly to believe in magic myself, but what I've seen, heard, felt. It was almost unexplainable, except by magic. I saw what the High Priest did to the courtyard. Mana's been telling us stories about him too. Stronger than the Pharaoh... It wouldn't surprise me. I snapped out of my thoughts as the High Priestess walked back in, holding what looked suspiciously like a loaf of bread.

"My sincerest apologies, but that is what we have to do to get food around here." she laughed. She whacked it up and down on her hand a few times. It was really hard, and didn't look totally desirable. Everyone stirred and got to their feet, except Kaiba of course.

"And this folks, is supper." she said.

"Nice." said Tristan, nodding his head in mock politeness and holding both his thumbs up. At that moment Kaiba's counterpart came in, elegant and graceful, just like Kaiba himself. He sat down at his desk and picked up his quill, pretending not to have seen the bread. Isis broke a piece off and put it in her mouth.

"Seth... We have food." she said between mouthfuls. Seth looked up with eager eyes.

"Food! Oh pass it here!" he said, climbing over his workloads and trying to snatch it from her, "Isis! I'm famished!" he moaned. Mahado came in and observed the scenario.

"Oh food!" he said, also trying to grab it from Isis.

"This is what I do to them, I keep them on rations."

"Why?"

"Because they would go hyper and destroy the palace, not thay Seth doesn't do enough of that already..." she trailed. What the Hell was that supposed to mean!

"You mean he blows up the palace on a, uh, regular basis?" I asked tentatively.

"Unfortunately yes." she said. I shut up. Seth walked over to her, and she just walked away, so he ended up chasing her around the room, until he caught her and took it from her. He proceded to eat it with a smirk on his face.

"Alright Seth give it back." she asked demandingly. He smirked, and gave a large chunk of it to Mahado, who smirked back.

"Run! Run!" Mahado yelled through fits of laughter as Isis made her approach, and Seth darted through the doorframe, his white cloak just licking the wall as he turned - at speed - to his right. It was Isis' turn to smirk. That was a store cupboard and there was no way out. She threw a paperweight at Mahado, who even then failed to quell his laughter and fell on the floor as it hit him on the arm. Isis' face was hysterical. She went into the store cupboard for a few seconds, and while she searched in there, Seth orbed back into the room, eating the 'bread'.

"_This _is what a whitelighter has to do to get food around here. Isis takes great pleasure in starving us." he said, and, after a few rotoations of his jaw; "It tastes _disgusting_."

**"SETH!" **came a voice from inside the cupboard. Seth looked up somewhat guiltily, his mouth full of bread. "SETH!" Isis shouted, coming out of the cupboard, heading straight for him, but Seth then orbed to the other side of the room, where she had come from. She scowled, quite audiably, and went back to him, but he threw it over her head to Mahado, who caught it, pulled a piece off, and threw it back to Seth. This game of piggy in the middle disgruntled Isis more than a little, and eventually, Seth threw it directly at Isis, who was winded by this latest attack, catching it after it had hit her stomach. She tore a piece off and ate it readily, while Seth and Mahado chuckled from their positions at either side of the room, as another tall priest entered the room. Not as tall as Seth, about 6ft1, and had typical, straight Egyptian-style black hair, and violet/grey eyes. I didn't know who the tall one was, but he was accompanied by Shaadi's counterpart.

"Good even. What's happening?" he asked cheerily. Shaada **(A/N: Not Shaadi) **nodded in acknowledgement.

"Good even." said Isis in equal tone, and then a little more lethally, "Seth just ran off with the food."

"Food?" said Karim, somewhat excitedly.

Mahado, Seth and Shaada grinned and looked from the face of the Priest, and then to that of the High Priestess, and smirked to one another, like they knew something the other two didn't...

_Normal POV_

Everybody, well,almost everybody, knew that Karim was in love with Isis. Everybody seemed to know it except Karim and Isis themselves. To Seth, Mahado and Shaada it was obvious. His voice stuttered when he was around her and his cheeks adorned that cherry red shade of colour that painted every man's face at the sight of a beautiful woman. Seth knew the feeling all too well. Mahado not so, although Seth thought that, without the age gap, Mana would make a good sweetheart for him. But, he was eleven years her senior **(A/N: Someone please tell me how old Mahado is I have no idea but he's 25 in this fic, whereas Mana is 14)**, and although marriages with that kind of age difference were common, love however, was not. Isis was older than him, and Kisara was already madly in love with Seth. Mahado didn't know whether he was jealous of Seth on having found love before him, or glad. Was it a burden or a joy? He wished he knew.

"How's the nose then Karim?" Seth asked maliciously. Karim glared at him. Mahado chuckled,

"You, Seth, and you, Mahado, are the only people that seem to have a problem with my nose." he announced. **(A/N: Remember, in chappie 10? When Mana jinxes him and Isis nearly breaks his nose lol!)**

"Not problem, Brother, but tale. Shall I enlighten you?"

"No thank you."

Seth smirked à la Seth and Karim rolled his eyes.

"Right, I shall leave you, for it it late and we must be up 'fore Ra." she said, hiding a yawn. **(A/N: In Ancient Egypt the Pharaoh or a Priest would do a ritual every morning to make the Sun rise. They believed that Ra travelled across the sky in a boat keeping evils away in the form of what we know as the Sun.)**

"Good night." they chorused. Isis made her exeunt, beckoning the gang come with her, with Yugi, Tristan, Marik and Mokuba carrying the still unconscious Kaiba, followed by the girls, and Joey, who refused to help.

"You love her don't you?" Mahado asked right out. It was a sensible question. To everyone except Karim of course.

"I crave her good favour, is it such a crime?"

"If it must be so obvious."

"It is not."

"Is it not?" asked Seth, with one eyebrow raised.

"It is, because Seth acted in a very similar fashion when he was in the process of falling in love with Kisara." said Mahado. Seth's eyes narrowed, "Except he made the point of letting her know."

"And you, Mahado, are destined to die an old Mage." said Seth jokingly.

"I resent that..."

"It is a little bit true..." said Shaada. Mahado threw some of what was left of the bread at the Priest, who caught it and ate it readily, "And we are going off topic."

"How so?"

"We were making fun of Karim. Personally I think that our talents would better put to use interrogating him." he said. Karim glared.

"Talent? Shaada; talents may lie in Magic, in Fighting Arts, in Academic Studies, in Astronomy perhaps, but not in interrogation and annoyance."

"True, but I must beg to differ; they are very good at it." Mahado chortled. Seth and Shaada grinned evilly, "Oh, and you forgot embarrassment."

"Back to topic of conversation number one: Karim, for someone who is in charge of the Army, **(A/N: I don't know if he is let's just say he is for now) **you are, without a doubt, the most pathetic man I have ever met." said Seth bluntly.

"Why thank you."

"It's not something to be proud of Karim. Quite the contrary. Tell her. For all our sakes. Or I shall have to force you, and don't tell me I don't have the power to do that because I can tell you; I bloody well do!"

_With Kaiba..._

**"KAIBA!"**

_"Apologise? To you?"_

"What have I told you?"

"Seto sweetie, no using magic until you're older, remember?"

_"I make my own destiny!"_

_**"Darling you're too young to understand..."**_

****"What do you take me for?"

_"See? that's your baby brother..."_

_ **"You're a whitelighter, like me see?"**_

_"Seto... my son... take care of your brother... I will always be with you..."_

**"You worthless child! If you care for your pathetic wretch of a brother, you will get back to your studies!"**

_"It's alright, it's okay, I'm here..."_

**"He is nothing but a pawn!"**

_"I tried! Please! I can't to any more!"_

**"IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!"**

**"YOU DARE DEFY ME!"**

**"USE YOUR POWERS AGAINST ME CHILD AND YOUR BROTHER WILL NOT SEE TOMORROW'S DAWN!"**

**"THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS MAGIC!"**

Kaiba's eyes finally snapped open, fear visible in their murky depths. The voice of his stepfather still rang and echoed through his head and in his head, and he felt like he had just fallen from a great height but somehow landed with out any pain. But he was in pain. Both physically and emotionally. The kind words of his parents and cruel words of Gozaburo, dispersed with his own pleas and more recent arrogant comments brought back the most painful memories. After years, he could recall the deaths of his parents, and the Gozaburo's wrath. The nerves in his body were aflame, as if the beatings he had suffered since his adoption were fresh. Then it dawned on him the how real it was. With stiff muscles, he rolled up his sleeve and saw a large, ugly bruise on his forearm. His eyes widened. It hadn't been there before, but he could remember when it had been. He touched it and squinted with pain as his fingers delicately brushed over it. He noticed a sharper pain coating his back and legs. It stimulated his muscles and every living moment seemed to be agony.

_"It's just a dream. A bad dream. I'll wake up in a minute..." _ he thought desperately. He realised he was lying on a hard stone bed-thing in a dark empty room, the only thing that furnished it was the colour and decorative paintings that adorned the walls and ceiling. It was dark, and a full moon was all that illuminated the night. Everything was silent, and all Kaiba could hear was the rather uncomforting sound of his own rasping breath. An eerie, shrill sound hummed in his eardrums, like it was trying to tell him something. Thankfully though it didn't persist, and faded, but Kaiba was subconsciously aware that it had meant something, and a part of him tried to decipher it, while the other half told not to be so stupid. Unfortunately this subconscious awareness was growing, consuming his mind, trying to make him believe. The more he fought it, the more it seemed to grow. He turned his head towards the doorway, and nearly fell off the bed when his counterpart appeared through a cascade of blue lights. His eyes widened and he threw his palms out against the High Priest, all too aware of the pain that shot up his arms when he moved. The High Priest leant his weight against the doorframe.

"Good, you're awake." he said arrogantly. Kaiba scowled straight up at the ceiling, "I presume you slept well."

Oh the irony. Kaiba glared.

"Don't you know? You did this to me!" he answered in equal egotism. Seth smirked and nodded.

"It had to be done."

"No it didn't..."

"Yes, it did. The only way to jolt your powers out of quiescency was to reawaken your memories of them. You had to feel that pain, that torment, because that is what made you what you are now! And only that could reverse it!"

"HOW MANY MORE TIMES MUST I SAY THIS! I DO NOT, REPEAT; DO NOT, HAVE MAGICAL F POWERS!" he yelled as loudly as he could. Seth held up his palms as a signal to lower the volume.

"Hikari it might interest you to know that only people with magic powers _can_ be reincarnated. You cannot deny it..."

"Oh yes I can! I want nothing to do with magic!"

"It used to drive me mad I admit, but as I said, you are no more a mortal than you are a fool. Think about it. You might actually enjoy it." he said almost sardonically. This was a tough one to crack.

"Let me tell you when I'm gonna 'enjoy' it:" Kaiba snapped, "The day the Apocalypse Riders appear on the horizon."

It was supposed to be sarcastic.

Trust Seth to take it literally.

"Then let it be so." he said, "And if that happens; I should also like to remind you of it."

"How can I be reminded of it if I'm dead?" he asked cunningly. He presumed that, being a Christian belief, and Christianity not to come along for another thousand years or so, the Apocalypse wouldn't be on the Ancient Egyptians' 'to do' list. However, Seth didn't need time to think.

"Because you won't be dead. The Apocalypse won't happen in your lifetime anyway and even if it did, you would have the power to stop it."

That hit a nerve, and Kaiba saw red. What normally would have simmered away while he fired an employee boiled over, and everything that was repressed was suddenly let go. Without his intention. Seth then abruptly sidestepped, and a Seeing glass **(A/N: mirror) **smashed into smitherines, the fragments of glass scattering on the floor. Kaiba's eyes widened as his racing heart settled, and Seth looked at him questioningly.

"Tell me, is that my bad luck, or yours?" he asked rhetorically, raising an eyebrow. Kaiba was paralysed on the spot.

"It might just grow on you." he said, before turning away and leaving. His white cloak much reminding Kaiba of his own trenchcoat. Surely he couldn't be leaving him here? And he wasn't about to be left there. He got up, his feet and legs now feeling more capable of supporting his weight. He went to the door and, watching his counterpart, followed at a safe distance.


	16. Sweet Nothings in her ear

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**This is quite short but very sweet. Warning: readers may find this chapter... well, it's no tear-jerker, but be prepared for a few confessions lol!**

**Sweet nothings in her ear...**

Kaiba followed the High Priest at a safe distance, and got the feeling that the sheer determination of his not wanting to be found was preventing his lookalike from 'sensing' his presence. Why did he get the impression that his past incarnation was more powerful than he let on? Kaiba realised that he somehow felt more agile and light, and his footsteps were completely inaudiable, even to the powerful man walking infront of him. After descending a few flights of steps, Seth turned through a giant archway into what were presumably the palace gardens. Kaiba remained silent and stationed himself behind the archway.

He saw a girl with pale skin and hair and blue eyes sitting on a stone bench beside the waterfall. She let her hand hang under the cool gush of water that fell from the rocks above. What was weird was that she looked exactly like the mutt's sister.

There were lots of tropical plants and palm trees and pink and white water lilies graced the lower pond, an amazing contrast to the blue depths of the water. His lookalike walked up to her silently and placed his hand on her shoulder. She flinched at first and then relaxed when she realised it was him.

"How did you know I would be here?" she said quietly, as if his presence made her short of breath. He smiled softly, and suddenly Kaiba felt very resolute and peaceful. Happy.

It was freaking him out.

"I Saw you." he said tenderly, "Sensed you. And knew you so well as to know." She smiled, and stood up to face him, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest. He brought his own strong arms around her shoulders and pressed his face into her steely blue hair, his eyes shut tightly and breathed deeply as if he were drowning where he stood. Kaiba watched on, keeping his own breathing silent. Surely he was playing her...

"Kisara..." he whispered in her ear, and she held onto him even tighter, "I love you... I love you so much..."

Kaiba nearly fell over and struggled to assimilate what he was hearing.

Kisara slid her left cheek up to his and nuzzled him gently, slow, salty tears running from her eyes. Her tears ran onto his cheeks, and on realising this pressing wetness, he kissed them away, his lips soothing the sting that they left on her face. She tilted her head so that the next kiss landed on her lips.

It did.

"And I love you..." she whispered, before he closed the gap again and kissed her fiercely. Kaiba watched in disbelief as warm feelings he didn't recognise flooded through his own body. **(A/N: These are actually emitted from Seth. Seeing as they are yami and hikari they sense each others emotions; loving and otherwise) **Why did his counterpart have to be in love? And why did it have to rub off on him of all people? He was snapped out of this unknown sensation by the sound of very nearby gravel and stones moving under someones foot. Desperately trying to ignore the dramatic rise in his own hormone levels, he mutely crept around the pillar that formed the archway, and came face to face, with none other than Serenity...

"Wheeler!" he snapped as loudly as he could, without attracting the attention of his otherwise engaged lookalike. Serenity went to gasp and then, quite wisely, didn't.

"Kaiba!" she whispered, jumping on the spot from shock.

"What the Hell are you doing here Wheelerette?" he said harshly, looking upon her as if she were no more than a piece of smelly rubbish. She looked at him guiltily as if he were telling her off.

"Well, I followed her..."

"What in God's name possessed you?" he demanded. She flinched at this undeserved attack.

"I... I... I just wanted to know why she looked so like me and then you... he turned up... What are _you _doing here?" she asked. It was his turn to squirm, mentally though, he never showed it.

"Witnessing a meltdown apparently." he snapped again, throwing a disapproving look to the figures in the garden. Her expression buckled and she turned her attention back to their doubles.

"They love each other so much..." she said quietly. He couldn't disagree. It was pretty bloody obvious. He stood behind her, the looks on their faces totally opposite; his a 'get me outta here' look and hers a 'how sweet' look. But both of them were feeling the impulses of their twins. Both of them felt it when Seth's knees gave way and they fell to the ground, her on top of him. They laughed and he wrapped his arms around her waist. Serenity immediatly moved away from the edge of the pillar, in order to remain unseen, but in doing so, found her nose nearly brushing Kaiba's chest. She froze, as did he.

Subsequently, a disturbing fusion of happiness and pain exploded within both, and their souls felt obliged to shuck off their bodies as so much worn-out baggage. They made a tremedous effort to resist it, and Serenity became paralysed with fear of what was happening. Kaiba, on the other hand, although his soul was on the brink of being thrown into Death, didn't feel that trepidation. He felt unstable, yet safe at the same time, and even found that he liked the fact that he could live 'on the edge' - literally - and wasn't worried. It was very like a stimulant. A subsitute for adrenaline. A taste of freedom. And, as little as he knew it, a taste of being a Charter Mage. The element of him that liked danger and the lack of restrictions felt a mind-blowing thrill, whereas the stubborn, more confined element was horrified by it. He also felt strangely attached to her throughout this ordeal, and she, from the look of her colour-drained face, was not taking it so well as he was.

She felt this freedom and danger, but it terrified her. The thought of being so carefree in a time when it was a matter of Life or Death made her feel agrophobic **(A/N: afraid of open spaces)**. It was the feeling that Charter Mages relished and what gave them the slightly flamboyant 'no-nerves' prerogative they were famous for. Except Charter Mages were the only ones who relished it - it frightened almost everyone else to Death, but the general attitude of the Charter Mages was also envied and considered a blessing, as Charter Magic itself was. But what many did not realise was that magic on such a great scale was both a curse and a good thing.

A blessing.

As, everyone hoped, Kaiba would discover. And Charter Mages even seemed to relish that - until it almost got them killed, that is.

As soon as Serenity felt able to move, she ran back through the archway, whispering to Kaiba that she had to get back to the others. She ran nimbly down the corridor, not entirely sure of where she was going. Kaiba took one last glance at his lookalike, who was nigh on making love to this girl, and grimaced. Then he too turned away, back into the palace.

He wasn't at all impressed by his counterpart.

"Abhorsen?" asked a voice through a pitch blackness. Seth lay with his eyes shut, a smile just detectable on his face, his arm fixed around Kisara's slim form. He pulled the bedcovers up over them with his spare arm.

"Hm?" he hmmed, pulling her closer.

"Seth?"

"Hmmm?" he went again, stirring his head and kissing the back of her neck, making her giggle.

"Do you hate me?" she asked gingerly, liking the feeling of his bare skin against hers.

"Do you honestly think..." he purred in her ear, his head resting on her hair, "That we would be here now, if I hated you?"

"I don't know..." she whispered. What she felt for him was so unreal, so dreamlike, so strong, she was sure that it was impossible that he could return it, and everybody had always hated her for what she was. He was the High Priest and the Abhorsen. What made him different from everyone else? "But..." she stuttered, "_Do _you love me? Truly?"

It was a question well asked, although he could only give the answer she wanted to hear.

"Kisara..." he whispered, "Ra himself does not have words to describe how much you mean to me. I would give up my life in a second for you..."

"You haven't answered the question." she said knowingly. He knew that she had more power over him than he had, and he caved to it;

"Yes..." he said in near desperation, "Yes... And yourself?"

"I'm not sure if my life is worth it." she joked, and he snorted,

"Your life, or mine?"

"Where does your life come into it?"

"If the answer is yes, then it is your life in the line, if it is no, then it is mine."

"In that case; yes." she said. He exhaled heavily in her ear, making her shiver.

"Hm.." he growled seductively, "You, my darling, have a dawn appointment with the axe blade."

"So therefore you will be making the most of now then?"

"Oh yes..."

**(A/N: We'll just leave 'em to it shall we? ... walks away quickly)**

_The next day_

"Glad you see you are feeling well again after your little ailment Kaiba." said Isis mockingly.

He scowled.

'Little ailment' was an understatement. Even in the time that he had been unconscious, he had never been in more pain. Merely thinking about it made him feel sick.

"Ailment? And I was under the impression that I was dead." his voice dripped with sarcasm.

"I know. In truth you nearly were." she said sweetly.

"How's that then?"

"I know a lot of things dear." she answered as if he were six years old.

"Then you'll know that 'dear' isn't my favourite nickname."

"Calm down, don't bite my head off! Ra, you _are_ like Seth."

He hoped not.

"I heard that." she said.

"Heard what?"

"That you hoped that you weren't like Seth."

"I'm so sorry did I say that out loud?." he said maliciously.

"You didn't. I read your mind."

"You can't read my mind." he said as if she were about to attempt a tight-rope walk over the Grand Canyon and he was using reverse pyschology to persuade her not to. Isis was obviously going to walk that tight-rope, whether he liked it or not.

"Oh yes I can."

"Oh no you can't."

"Only just though. Your mental defences are strong, and the more I try to read you, the stronger they become. Eventually I won't be able to, so I was taking the oppurtunity. I can't read Seth's mind at all now, not since he was about fourteen. It is easy to develop them if you are clever, which you are, so you shouldn't have a problem."

"Are you suggesting that I waste my brain on mental defences?"

"Yes."

"Tough. I have a company to run."

"And I have a country to run, so I shan't waste _my_ words on _your_ ears: The latter is true, but you also have a destiny, a role to play, one that is greater that you can devise. Oh, and be careful with your temper. Anger triggers powers like Temporal Combustion and Cryokinesis. And I would rather _not_ be blown to smitherines."

"Don't push it then." he said through gritted teeth. It was her turn to scowl.

"I wouldn't dream of it." she said with perfect solemnity, "And, you haven't contradicted me, which means you are beginning to accept it. But that _would_ be pushing it..." she observed Kaiba's 'no-one's-gonna-tell-me-anything-I-don't-wanna-hear' look, and tailored her outlet, "I know what you can do. Find it out for yourself." she said, gathering her papers and dodging the rest of the gang as they were guided through the door by Mahado. Kaiba looked after her, and began to wonder...

"Hey Kaiba!" came an optimistic voice.

"Hello Yugi." Kaiba replied, showing no emotion whatsoever.

"Where did she go?" asked Mahado.

"I have no idea."

"Probably to the Treasury if I should make a guess."

The others all turned around to see Seth with his own papers in his arms. Kaiba gave him a disgruntled look, which he chose to ignore. Kaiba's look of disdain turned into one of discomfort, to the others for no apparent reason.

"Kaiba? What's wrong?" asked Téa worriedly. A nasty ringing was sounding in his ears, and he cradled his head and crumpled his face. He couldn't hear her question properly, so he answered what the answer would most probably be;

"Nothing Gardner!"

"Kaiba you look like you got a mega headache." commented Yugi.

"Earache, and no, it's more like, a jackhammer!"

"High-pitched, whirring sound that goes in and out?" Seth asked from his desk. To you and I it would sound like a dentist's drill. Kaiba nodded reluctantly.

"Why? Do you know what it is?" asked Mahado, who was annoyed at the fact that he didn't know.

"It's your whitelighter powers coming through." Seth anaylsed. Kaiba nearly anime fell.

"A call from the Elders?" said Mahado, who was now happier that he knew he couldn't have known what was wrong, seeing as he was not a whitelighter and was therefore unable to hear their callings.

"Probably not, it's just a notification."

"A notification of what?" Kaiba snarled through a wince as the ringing worsened again.

"The fact that you're a whitelighter. Before I learnt to control my powers it used to drive me up the wall."

"I don't care what it is how do you make it stop already!"

"Learn to control your powers." Seth said simply. It was easier said than done.

Kaiba felt broken. He was hearing his life crashing around his ears. He felt powerless and feeble. He wasn't sure if he cared anymore. What would happen if he agreed? They would have won, that's what. He didn't think he could take that, no matter how much his ears rang, but there was something in it, and his curiosity was fuelling him. He had thought about it. What if he really did have magic powers? Ridiculous as it was, what if it was true? What was he capable of? As memories of his earlier childhood had become clearer, he had begun to wonder. He had seen so much and denied so much, and was now beginning to doubt his own analysis.

Could it hurt to try?

No more than living down another embarrassing defeat from Yugi. He sighed, overwhelmed, his eyes became glassy, and he looked up, as if he were facing his worst fear.

"Okay..." he said, his voice broken and shattered, "What do I have to do?"


	17. For loving, not doting, pupil mine

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Heya! A disclaimer: I wish to inform all u peeps that I am not William Shakespeare no matter how occasionally I pretend I am. The title is an adaptation of a line from 'Romeo and Juliet'. Friar Lawrence originally says; "For doting, not loving, pupil mine". I've changed it to... well, you'll see...**

**For loving, not doting, pupil mine.**

"Alright. What are you proposing?" Kaiba asked, with his legs crossed, keeping eye contact with the man sat across the table from him, as his step-father had always taught him to.

"You may ask me questions. Anything, everything, as many questions as you like, and I will listen and answer them truthfully. But, in return, I shall ask you my questions, which may be anything and everything, as many as I like, and you must answer with the undoubted, utmost truth."

"Hm..." said Kaiba in thought.

"What do you say to my boon?" Seth asked. Kaiba could do with some questions answered, but could he trust his counterpart? He decided that the pros outweighed the cons.

"You got yourself a deal." he said.

"You ask first."

"Okay. Who exactly are you?"

"My name is Seth Akhunden, **(A/N: Yeah, Seth Akhunden, Akunadin Akhunden, Atem Akhunden... Sad surname really, but I _have_ read it somewhere and I have no imagination left lol)**

I am eighteen years old, I'm six feet and four inches tall, I weigh 143 pounds, I have blue eyes and chestnut brown hair, and I'm Egyptian, obviously, but I can speak Grecian, Latin, Arabic, Chinese and Britannian. My mother was a whitelighter, and my father a witch. I am the High Priest of Egypt, the first Millennium Master and the Abhorsen. And yourself?"

"My name's Seto Kaiba, I'm also eighteen years old, six foot four and weigh 143 pounds. I'm half Japanese, my mother was Russian. **(A/N: This is made up but I felt like putting it in lol. I mean, how many Japanese people have pale complexions and blue eyes?) **I can speak English, Japanese, German, Italian and Russian. I have a little brother called Mokuba who is thirteen, our parents were killed when I was nine. We were adopted by an evil business tycoon and took his surname. When I was fifteen I took over his company..."

"The same age I was when I became the High Priest." Seth commented. Kaiba continued;

"And my second question: Why was I brought here?" he said, refferring to being sucked through the tablet.

"You had to see what you were meant to see." he said, "You had to understand your destiny, come to terms with it, and fulfil it. You had to understand your past, as me, and exactly who you were. Who your are. Understand the extent of your power and the feeling of freedom it can give you. If I were to make a well-educated guess, I would guess that you dislike being shut up in your office for long hours. Even now, you value your freedom, but are too concerned for your brother and your company to relish it. You are determined, stubborn, cold and arrogant. You like power. Which is why I think you will enjoy magic." Seth said.

He even managed to not make it sound like crap, like Yugi always did.

"Mortal power. Social power. _Not_ magic power."

"Mortal power, magical power. The two are a world apart but the principle is still very much the same. The sensation of being able to do whatever you want: It is stronger with magical power than with mortal, where the 'being able to do whatever you want' can be taken literally."

"How did you know all that?"

"I am you. Your disposition stands as true for me as it stands for you. Now, my turn: What do you know of magic? Have you had a bad experience with it in your past? Or are you just a drastic Humanist?"

"Both."

"Care to expand on that?" Seth raised a questioning eyebrow. Kaiba mentally squirmed, and Seth felt it.

"In confidence only." he said, his voice growing quieter. Seth nodded.

"I understand."

Kaiba took a deep breath and faced his lookalike.

"Magic is not foreign to me." he confessed, "My mother was a witch, and my father was a whitelighter. I remember their powers well, and..." he struggled, the words sticking unwillingly in his throat, "I enjoyed the challenges and thrills as you so describe them. As I discovered... my own powers, I became more confident, like my parents. They encouraged me to learn, although not in public, the whole exposure thing... Then they were killed. When I was nine. I saw it happen. A necromancer. I understood that he wanted me, and had to kill my parents to get to me. And he might have done, but in the fight in which my father died, he managed to wound the necromancer, to the extent where he gave up. Then Mokuba and I were put in an orphanage, and my use of magic was limited to the bare mimimum, however I still managed to teach Mokuba some things. Then when we were adopted, and at first, _he_ let me use magic, and watched me, to see what I could do. He can't have liked what he saw, because after the first week or so he forbid me from doing any magic. At all. I didn't think I could live; knowing I had powers and was not allowed to use them. Mokuba likewise. He became stricter, making a servant sit up with me very night to make sure I didn't do anything. I became depressed.

Repressed.

And then I began to lose the knack.

He knew I was too, because he had noticed my frustration. He put me through rigorous studies that were years too advanced for me, beat me and threatened to hurt Mokuba if I didn't learn..." he paused, stifling his heaving, rasping breath, "He repeatedly told me: 'There's no such thing as magic. There's no such thing as magic'. I was too broken to fight anymore. I realised that my powers were gone, I had lost them. Probably for good. It hurt. Then I realised that it was magic that had done this to us. If there was no magic, I would have a normal life, and our parents would still be alive. For that I began to hate it. Loath it. If it could hurt me so much, what could it do to me brother? And I kidded myself into believing that it was all rubbish. That I would be better off without it."

Kaiba sighed and slumped back in his chair, lowering his gaze as if in shame. He had just spillied his guts to an Ancient Egyptian High Priest. He _was_ going mad. Seth kept a uniform expression throughout Kaiba's confession, his eyes soft with sympathy but the rest of his face remained professional.

"I understand." he said softly, "Your stepfather, yes?" Kaiba nodded, "My father, my real father played the part of him in my life."

Kaiba looked up. It was Seth's turn to confess.

"I too was forced to study advanced arts, but unlike you, my father encouraged my use of magic. Later I learned that he wanted to control my spirit, and with it my powers. When I was thirteen, I was his apprentice. I didn't know he was my father, I was previously led to the conclusion that my father had died before I was born. It was then he told me. I couldn't take it. And as a result of my emotional baggage, my powers spiralled out of my control. I couldn't stop them, and it one of the most painful things I had ever undergone. And I actually destroyed the Great Hall."

"You mean the really big room where all the conferences are held?"

"Yes. It was in ruin after I managed to gather myself again. Ask Isis and Mana, it was them I nearly killed... But, I found, that my life changed for the better after it. You might find the same. Any more questions?"

"Actually yes." he said in slight disbelief, spotting the Millennium Rod in his counterpart's lap, "How did you come into the possession of the Millennium Rod?"

"The Millennium Rod is _my_ Item." he said calmly, as if Kaiba were being stupid. Kaiba's eyes widened and his eyebrows rose.

"I thought it belonged to that lunatic Marik Ishtar."

"No. The Rod is the most powerful of the Millennium Items. Each Item, when they were created, was tailored to the power of the master."

"So, you're the most powerful magician in Egypt then?"

"In Existance. That's what the Abhorsen is. The Rod is the strongest, followed by the Ring, then the Tauk, the Eye, The Ankh, or Key as it is sometimes called, the Balance, and then the Puzzle."

"I thought the Puzzle was the strongest."

"It is deceiving. The Puzzle gives the wielder particular domain over the Shadow Realm and it's magics, but not much else. The Pharoah's lineage is not magically powerful. Yes, there is magic there, but it is not strong. That's one of the criteria for being a Priest - being good at Magic. We exist to protect the Pharaoh and govern Egypt as his Stewards. We stand by the Throne, not on it."

"So where does Marik come into the equation then?"

"Marik tried, or, will try, from this point in time, to use the Rod I do. With one slight problem. Marik is not the Abhorsen. Marik is not me. Or you, for that matter. The magic of the Rod was too strong for him to control..."

"He was turned evil wasn't he?"

"Yes..."

"But I thought the Millennium Items were created to protect Egypt, not... turn people evil!"

"Believe it or not, the world needs evil, to keep everything in balance. Naturally, they were created with some evil in them, you know, to stop Egypt from turning into La-La Land. It's the same with the Abhorsen's Blade. To someone who is not magically strong enough to harness it's power, that power can manipulate them, change them. Turn them evil, even. As is what happened... will happen, sorry, to Marik. Why do you think Pharaoh's counterpart keeps it wrapped up away from everyone?"

"Hey! How did you know all that it hasn't even happened yet!"

"A combination of Clairvoyance and common sense. I know what the Rod can do and it can't affect me. Typical of Marik too..."

"Is that why Yugi keeps trying to throw it my way then?" Kaiba asked, as if he had just found out something that had been bugging him for years. Admittedly it had been.

"Yes. You are the _only_ one who _can_! And you must take it. Sooner or later it will find it's way back to you."

"Why do I feel less than comfortable about that?" he asked sarcastically. Seth frowned. Just when he thought his reincarnation was going to cooperate.

"Forget about the Rod for now." he said, knowing that it was best to withdraw from that part of the conversation. He also knew that, when Kaiba found his powers again, he would be less 'anti-Millennium-Rod', and he would take it of his own accord. It was best not to shove too much down his throat, "Let's see what I have to do to force some magic out of you then."

He got up and went over to the Book of Shadows...

"Hey... Wait! I have another question to ask you!" Kaiba blurted out. Seth turned around, his hand on the lecturn, an eyebrow raised. A smirk played on Kaiba's face, "The pale girl, uh... Kisara, I think her name is..."

"What about her?" Seth asked, but Kaiba recognised something spark in his eyes.

"You love her." he said curtly, as if it was a crime. It was Seth's turn to mentally squirm, "How? What? Where? When? Why?" he demanded. Seth took a deep breath.

"Oh Ra..." he whispered, cradling his forehead in the palm of his hand, "How do you know? You've never met her." he asked quietly. Kaiba raised an eyebrow, not answering this question. He had his counterpart where he wanted him.

"How..."

"I don't know!" Seth half-yelled, holding out his palms in exasperation. And then; "I don't know... I don't know..." his voice growing more emotional as he said it, his breath deepening, "It just happened. It's one of those things where you don't realise until it's too late! By the time I realised..." he paused, forcing his tongue to form some difficultly chosen words, "...I couldn't fight it..."

He then looked up in a new awareness. He had found a way out. If he had fallen so wildly in love, and it had been his Destiny, then Kaiba would too, with. presumably Kisara's counterpart.

"I can't explain it." he said with confidence. Confidence which worried Kaiba slightly, "You will find out for yourself at some point in the near future." he announced, instantaneously tapping into his power of Clairvoyance, relating with what he Saw, "Until then, I would like continue torturing you..."

"Wow." said Kaiba quietly as he successfully orbed from where he stood to the other side of the room. He had got the hang of it straight away, after being orbed by Seth, he was able to duplicate the sensation and apply his mind to the task lucratively.

"And that applies to anything, not just orbing yourself." said Seth, "It's like Telekinesis, but it's much much quicker and requires less effort. Just say the name of whatever you're orbing and want it to come to you. You have to_ want _it to, until it becomes second nature and only a split-second thought is all it takes. You can orb it to you, or to anywhere. It's called Telekinetic Orbing. Whitelighters with no agressive powers use it to slam various objects into their opponents."

Seth continued to tell Kaiba about the whitelighter/darklighter scenario and the dangers of darklighter poison. Seth decided that since Kaiba was, initially, a whitelighter, it would be best to start with whitelighter powers. Although he sported a strong witch prerogative, **(A/N: Think about Kaiba's no nonsense, slightly lethal attitude. Dangerous, harsh and proud. Think of the similarites in attitude between Kaiba, Piper Halliwell and Kai Hiwatari from Beyblade, (don't own) and there you have witch prerogative lol.) **and was flexible in both witch/whitelighter powers, Seth was going one at a time. After learning Healing and Reconstitution, he started on Shape-Shifting. This would be interesting...

"You have to be a mimic." he said, "Again, it's a 'want it to happen' thing, not a 'summon' thing. Be able to see the person in your mind's eye. Then you have to kind of orb into the shape of the person. It is both difficult and easy to get wrong. Try it."

Kaiba did, after a long time deciding who to shape-shift into. They decided to use Tristan, as he was the nearest to Kaiba's physical build and height. Kaiba didn't like this of course, but managed it all the same, and then shifted successfully into Yugi and Marik, before changing back into himself again. Seth was impressed, and decided to try Electrokinesis.

That _was_ interesting.

The sparks flew.

Literally.

Various item around the room were smashed into pieces and holes were blown into walls and doors. Kaiba was amazed at the power that surged through him as he threw the lightning volts. He liked this power. It _wasn't_ easy to control and he missed several times, and several times more he made them stronger than he had intended, and had managed to set Seth's cloak on fire, which Seth put out using Hydrokinesis and scowled at his hikari, who just smirked, which turned into chuckling, which turned into laughter. Seth sent volts back at him, and he orbed out of the way, and the volts struck the wall behind him, blowing a massive hole in it. Isis ran in to the training room, her jaw dropping.

"SETH! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE TOLD YOU PLEASE REFRAIN FROM BLOWING HOLES IN THE WALL!"

"Amun Ra!" Seth exclaimed, "Isis isn't very supportive of, uh, magic training." he murmered to his hikari. Unfortunately, Isis heard him;

"I'm not being awkward about it I just don't see why you can't not blow holes in every Ra-forsaken wall in the palace, that's all." she lamented.

"Isis, there comes a time in every mage's life when he must learn how to blow holes in walls. Do you _want_ a repeat of what happened in the Great Hall?" he asked diligently. She shook her head, "Good. Then we shall continue to blow holes in walls." he concluded. This time, she shook her head as if to say; 'tch-typical-magi-when-will-they-ever-learn?', and carried on with her work. Seth then promptly announced that that was enough for one day, and dismissed his hikari. Kaiba made his exeunt, walking where his conscience led him. Maybe magic wasn't so bad after all...

_Kaiba's POV_

I marched down a well-lit corridor, the kind that was on the outside of the building and had pillars down the one side so you could see out. This particular corridor gave the view of the palace gardens, and I turned my aching neck to look out. It really was actually beautiful, and greener than I ever thought Ancient Egypt could be. Still nothing like Domino though. God I miss the city... And to add to that, I have no idea where I'm going either. I was just walking down a random corridor. Oh, and I have magic powers...

"Hey Kaiba!"

I turned my head and stopped to look between the pillars.

Crap.

It was Yugi. Actually I'm not sure if 'crap' is the right word... 'F Hell' would strike nearer.

"Hello Yugi." I answered dryly. God, he's still smiling! Please stop smiling like that...

"Where ya been?" he asked. I bit my lip.

"None of your business." I snapped. I had been so 'engaged' in my conversation with the midget I had failed to notice my own brother running towards me.

"Seto!" he yelled, bounding up to me and engulfing me in a bear hug. I smiled and hugged him back.

"Where have ya been Seto? I haven't seen ya in ages!" he said, his face buried in my trenchcoat.

"It's a long story..." I said, "Where have you been?"

"With the gang." he said. I frowned. Why did he have to make friends of those delinquents?

"Mokuba..." I began, but he cut me off;

"Seto! Why do you hate them so much? Please, for me, try and be civil!" he pleaded, giving me the puppy-dog eyes, "Remember Seto, it takes **forty-two **muscles to frown and **twenty-eight **to smile..."

"And only** four **to extend my arm and punch someone in the gut."

"Seto!"

"Mokuba!" I complained. He looked somewhat hurt, and I gave in, "Okay." I sighed, "Fine."

"Yay!" he said, smiling brightly, grabbing my wrist and pulling me towards the dweeb patrol. Great. Probably the fiercest businessman in the world and I can't even stand up to a thirteen year-old. There are few places I wouldn't rather be...

_Serenity's POV_

"Joey, when will you ever stop thinking about your stomach?" I asked my big brother as he rolled around on the floor clutching his abdomen and groaned, complaining that he was starving, and saying; 'didn't the Ancient Egyptians ever eat anything'?

Probably not.

"But 'Ren... So hungry... Need food..."

I kicked him in the side and he rolled over onto his stomach, his face obsured by the grass.

"I didn't think you were the type to kick your _own brother _Serenity." said Tristan in a disturbingly nice voice. I ignored him and turned to Ishizu;

"Ishizu..." I asked inquisitively. The Egyptian woman turned to face me and raised her eyebrows, "When are we gonna get outta here?"

"When everyone has seen what they have to see." she replied in her normal, monotone voice. I was glad that she was sincere, most of the others weren't - in particular Tristan and Joey, and she seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on.

"But we know the Pharaoh's name..." I said matter-of-factly, "Why haven't we been taken back to Domino?"

"I don't know." she stated. Now I was worried, "The only plausible suggestion is that maybe, the Pharaoh's memory wasn't the only thing we were brought back for..."

"What do you mean?"

"We haven't been taken back because someone else has to see something, or, remember something, or do something... I'm not sure." she said, putting a hand to her Millennium Tauk. She was worried. I could tell. I hadn't noticed that Kaiba had joined us, apparently being dragged along by Mokuba. He shot me a look of disdain and I looked at the floor, I didn't want to look at him. I looked to Ishizu again, talking with her was better than being silent in Kaiba's presence.

"Who?" I asked, expecting an immediate answer.

I didn't get one.

Ishizu had her eyes closed, and her hands crossed over the Tauk, which seemed to be glowing faintly. She was totally silent and apparently completely unaware of my question.

"Ishizu?" I asked, as if to say; 'hello are you in there?'. She didn't answer. Her head was nodding slightly, and her mouth was twitching, as if she was trying very hard to accept something.

"The lights are on but there's no one home." said Marik calmly. Suddenly, her body jerked, almost violently, and her eyes flashed open, revealing a look of fear and anxiety. The glow on the Tauk faded, and she slowly sat down on the grass, earning questioning and concerned looks from the others, including Kaiba.

"Ishizu? What did you see?" asked Marik, sitting beside his sister.

"History..." she stuttered, shaking slightly, ".. is going to repeat itself."


	18. Ishizu's Panic Attack

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Why is it only Isis the Sphinx that reviews this fic? I feel so demoted! Really! Please peeps I need reviews! A special thanks to Isis the Sphinx for reviewing and approving the plot. **

**Seto: Please don't make me do anything stupid.**

**WildEm: glares Wouldn't dream of it. You don't get a say even if I do!**

**Seto: sulks and looks hurt**

**WildEm: You wuss! ... looks up from her work. Marik runs in, being chased by Bakura...**

**Marik: HELP! sees Seto Why the Hell are you here? is tackled by Bakura**

**WildEm: BAKURA! MARIK! gives a death glare and points at them with her pen What have I told you?**

**Bakura: looks hyper Never pick your nose in public!**

**WildEm: Not that...**

**Marik: Oh! holds hand in the air like a schoolchild Oh I know!**

**WildEm: sarcastically What Marik? **

**Marik: grins Don't leave the toilet seat up!**

**WildEm: anime falls and smacks self on forehead**

**Seto: sighs Never, but _never, _go within a ten mile radius of that sugar bowl!**

**WildEm: gets up Thank you Seto. **

**Marik: laughs weirdly Hehe! You sound wwweeeiiiirrrddd! You sound like Bakura!**

**Bakura: scowls and punches Marik**

**WildEm: I think it's time for a fresh disclaimer... looks at Marik and Bakura laughing their heads off and rolling around on the floor clutching their stomachs. Sweat drops**

**Seto: sweat drops **

**WildEm: Seto, if you will.**

**Seto: WildEm regrets that she does not own Yu-Gi-Oh, or any of the other trademarks that might be mentioned in her fic. Except for Aeneas - whoever the Hell he is - her OC.**

**Ishizu's Panic Attack...**

_Normal POV_

"What the Hell do you mean Ishizu?" Kaiba snarled, and she stared at him eerily.

"I... I have to talk to Yugi... it's confidential..." she said, still shaky. She stood up and she and Yugi walked out of earshot of the others.

"What? What did you See?" he asked urgently.

"Don't worry if you don't remember this it will come to you in time. You know High Priest Seth?"

"Not personally but yeah. Why?"

"Seth was... is... - sorry, strange time lapse, we'll use the past tense - in love with a pale girl called Kisara. But she was killed by Priest Akunadin, and her Ka was released. The Blue Eyes White Dragon..."

"I know this what does it have to do with anything?"

"But humans have to be reincarnated as humans. A human spirit needs a human host."

"So, Kisara has a human counterpart somewhere..."

"Yes. But Kisara died, and if history repeats itself, which, from my vision, it will, that girl is doomed to die."

"Oh my God! We gotta stop it!" **(A/N: Remember peeps that Yugi doesn't know that Serenity is Kisara, yet at least)**

"I know. But the circumstances are so great, it's out of our hands."

"You mean we can't do anything! At all!"

"We can't, but there is someone who can. And we have to get through to them in time."

"Mai, can I take a walk with you?" Serenity asked, somewhat sheepishly. Mai grinned,

"Why sure hun. Somethin' on your mind?" asked the tall blonde. Serenity nodded.

"Yeah, can we talk?"

"Sure."

Mai and Serenity walked around the side of the palace to the garden on the other side, which was more secluded. They sat down on the grass and Mai flicked her hair out of her eyes.

"What's on your mind sweetie?" Serenity played with the grass under her fingers, and Mai took this as a sign of nervousness.

"You know Yugi, Kaiba and Ishizu had past lives here?"

"Yeah?"

"Well...I'm not sure... but I think I did too."

"What do ya mean honey?"

"I saw this girl... she looked just like me, but she had steely blue hair, blue eyes and really white skin. I wanted to know who she was so I followed her to the gardens. She just sat there, with her hand under the water, and then... Kaiba's person went up to her. I thought he was going to snap at her, but then he didn't..."

"What? Did he hurt her?"

"No... he...kissed her, and told her he loved her. And she cried, and told him she loved him... It was really beautiful, like something from a movie. I didn't think that Kaiba was capable of that kind of emotion."

"Remember it wasn't Kaiba, it was his counterpart..."

"Still, they _are _counterparts. Anyway, I stepped back from the pillar I was hiding behind, and stone stones rolled away from under my feet. They didn't hear me... but someone did."

"Huh?"

"Kaiba."

"What?"

"He must have followed his person like I followed her. But what was weird was that, I seemed to be able to feel what she was feeling. I don't know if he could, but it sure was freaky. And, on top of that, there was something weird about Kaiba himself."

"He looks like the same old asshole to me." said Mai, following this conversation with eager ears.

"No... it was like... like he had more of a presence..."

"He's always had presence hun. The presence of a massive stick up his ass."

"No, like an air, a weird air. I've been around him before and it wasn't like that. It seemed, deeper. Like somehow a part of him had changed. The same kind of presence you feel when you're around Ishizu or Marik. Except this was stronger. Much stronger. I felt scared of him. I never had done before."

"You'd be one of the few people who didn't 'Ren."

"It was like it held the key to his entire personality, but I couldn't figure out what it was. It made me feel so small."

"Ishizu has always said that Kaiba has a great destiny. That he is something really special. No idea why, but she won't be convinced otherwise. That's part of her frustration, that Kaiba keeps shunning it, but she thinks that he will come to terms with it in time."

"Do you think that's why we're still here? Because Kaiba has to know something?"

"It's very likely. Marik knows about his past. Yugi knows about his. Kaiba doesn't."

"How do you know that?" she asked. Mai sighed.

"I talked to Ishizu. She's the one who thinks she knows what the Hell's happening. This is what she told me..." Mai said, lowering her voice a fraction and leaning in, "What the High Priestess told us when we first arrived here is all true. Seth really _is_ the Abhorsen figure. He has magic powers. Powers that are stronger than those of any other in existance, even the Pharaoh. Magic that was apparently unimaginable to him. I didn't believe her, but she was adament. She said that Kaiba was also blessed with these abilities, these powers, and that his Destiny is to become the Abhorsen. Like Seth is. I told her that Kaiba was never gonna accept it. She said, that Kaiba wouldn't have a choice, that he would succumb to his Destiny, or die trying. All a bit weird to me. I don't really get it."

"He'll never let it happen."

"I know, but she told me that if he doesn't, it won't just be his life at stake. It will be ours as well, which seems to be what she's frettin' 'bout."

"I know Mai, but what if he doesn't?"

Meanwhile, around the corner, Ishizu was pacing up and down madly, tapping her fingers together busily and fanning herself.

_Okay..." _she thought to herself, _"When Kisara passes away, Serenity is going to go into a coma-like state. She won't die, because she and Kisara are not yami and hikari as yet, and the connection is not strong enough, but if she isn't strong enough, then maybe she will... Amun Ra... She does not deserve this. And how can she be brought out of this comatose state! _

_I don't know I don't know I don't know!  
_

_I should know."_

"Marik?" she asked her brother, he looked up at her, "Oh God I don't know what to do!"

She spoke in Arabic, as she knew the others would not be able to understand them. He replied similarly;

"Hush sister! You have to think clearly. What exactly _is_ the problem."

"Because of Kisara's Fate, Serenity is going to fall ill. Very ill. Near Death. I don't know how to bring her out of it, or if it can even be done!"

"Most remedies can be derived from the cause." he said, "So where did it start?"

"With Kisara's death."

"Why did Kisara die?"

"Protecting Seth."

"So Kisara died to protect Seth. You would have thought that a bond that powerful, being able to cause such an ill state, would be able to reverse it as well."

"Yes, but..." she was cut off mid sentance by a terrifying shriek from around the corner, where Mai and Serenity had gone. It had been Mai's shrill voice.

_"Oh Ra please no.." _Ishizu thought, sprinting around the corner with the others.

"Oh my God oh my God oh my God guys help she just collapsed!" Mai cried, holding the girl's head in her lap. Joey was at her side in a flash and slapped her around the face to wake her up.

With no luck.

"'Ren! Hey 'Ren! Wake up will yas?" he shouted at her, shaking her by the shoulders, but her head lolled back, and he noticed that all the colour had drained from her face. He felt her wrist for a pulse, and, on finding a very weak one, cradled his baby sister in his arms.

"We need to get her inside and keep her warm. Body temperature drops while sleeping." said Téa.

"Is she just sleeping?" said Joey frailly, his diapragm racking with tiny sobs.

"She's in a sort of coma." said Ishizu, "I don't know when she'll wake up."

Joep picked her up and carried her towards the palace, with the others in pursuit, including Kaiba and Mokuba. Ishizu stopped Marik as he went, and the two stood outside the palace to continue their conversation;

"Oh Ra it's happening I knew it was going to happen I just didn't think it was going to happen so soon!" she rambled. Marik soothed her.

"Sis, I think I know how to get her out." he said. Ishizu raised her head and widened her eyes, "It's a very long shot, but... If Kisara's Fate can put her there, maybe, just maybe, Seth's can pull her out."

"What do you mean?"

"Kaiba can get her out of it. By recreating Seth's affection. By loving her."

"But Marik..." Ishizu almost whispered, looking in on the group of teenagers, "He doesn't love her."


	19. In her nowhere place

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**In her nowhere place**

"Whaddya mean she ain't gonna wake up!" Joey yelled at Ishizu, who stood motionless in front of him, "O' course she's gonna wake up!"

"I'm working on it!" she protested, and he pulled a frustrated face. Mokuba was sitting by her side, her hand clutched in his, with Kaiba standing about two metres away. He thought it was better not to crowd her, and he was tall enough to see over their heads anyway.

**"Look Ishizu! It's your voodoo crap 'dat got her into this! So it's your voodoo crap 'dat's gonna get her outta it! Ya hear me!"**

Ishizu took a few small steps back and her eyes filled with distraught. Marik thought that now would be a good time to intervene;

"Hey, look man, it's not her fault!" he said angrily, "It's no one's fault! Okay?"

"Why is everyone biting my head off?" asked Joey desperately, "Why d'ya defend her?"

"I'm just defending my sister, like you are." he answered, "And you are the one who's biting peoples' heads off. Just back off a bit okay?"

"Okay! Just don't go evil on me!" he said.

And so it continued. As it got later, the others fell asleep. Except Joey. He remained awake, but not alert, and dark rings were visible beneath his eyes, until it was about an hour before sunrise.

_"Please 'Ren please wake up..."_ he whispered, _"I'm still here..."_

Kaiba's head began to stir and his eyes fluttered open, after having a fruitless nap. He had never been good at sleeping. Once he was awake, he could never get back to sleep again, which usually resulted in more working.

Not this time.

He shook his head in denial of the fact that he was still here, and waited for his vision to clear. He saw Joey, still sat at his sister's side.

_"He may be a mutt,"_ he thought, _"But this sure sucks, even for him. What if it had been Mokuba...?"_

He looked positively done in, and Kaiba knew he hadn't slept for nearly 24 hours. Kaiba knew the feeling. But at least he was used to it, whereas Joey had probably never stayed up for more than fifteen.

"Still there Wheeler?" he asked as he stretched his legs and arms. Joey looked around.

"Well wha' di'ya think Moneybags, that I was goin' some place?"

"I thought you might have fallen asleep eventually. No such luck apparently." he said. Joey glared.

"Are ya still gonna insult me Kaiba? Even now? 'Cause if ya are I ain't listenin'."

"I'm sorry about your sister." he said, "Believe it or not I actually do know what it's like."

"Ya do?"

"Yes, from Duellist's Kingdom remember? Or is your brain that incapable?"

"I remember."

"Good."

"And I ain't givin' up either! I'm gonna stay awake until..." he began, and then gave a massive yawn. Kaiba rolled his eyes.

"I'll watch your sister. You, sleep."

"No way in Hell Kaiba!"

"And the fact that you are gonna collapse from physical, and, dare I say it, mental fatigue any minute now anyway doesn't concern you does it?"

"No."

"Look, I'm not going anywhere and she obviously isn't going anywhere. And besides, I'm the one who can keep his eyes open."

"Ya sure Moneybags?"

"I regret to say that I am."

"Do _anything _except breathe and you're a dead man!"

"Wouldn't dream of it. Oh wait, I'm awake aren't I..."

"Whatever Moneybags."

"Wheeler..." he began, and stopped when he saw that Joey was fast asleep, his head rested on his crossed arms in peaceful slumber. He got up, his head almost spinning with the angry protests of his back and neck. Sleeping leant against a cold stone wall hadn't done him any good. He rubbed the back of his neck and stood up, surprised that he couldn't hear his own spine creaking. He walking laboriously over to a chair by the bed and seated himself there, leaning back and stretching the muscles in his legs again.

He looked at her pale face, her closed eyes, her fiery red hair was the only splash of colour in Kaiba's sight.

_Kaiba..._

Kaiba's head snapped up and he looked around for any sign of life. But found none. He could have sworn that someone had just said his name...

_Kaiba..._

He heard it again. It was a sweet voice, a female voice, but it was made ghostly, like it wasn't really there, or only half there.

It was her voice.

He turned to her, and on finding her motionless, narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

_Help me..._

"Wheeler?" he said quietly, wondering if she could hear him. She didn't move, and then, only out of curiosity, put his hand to her forehead.

To check her temperature, that was all. It was cold and lifeless, but he didn't feel it. It felt like he was being sucked through the tablet again, and his soul plummeted into darkness.

After having fallen what felt like air, he noticed that the medium was obviously changing. Changing gradually into a smooth, liquid substance. One that cushioned his fall and stopped him in motion completely. A bright light that shone through his closed eyelids caused him to open them...

Serenity floated through the light, liquid midst, in an eerie light, and kept her eyes shut. It was easier to think that way and she didn't want to know where she was. She felt cold and damp, and knew that she couldn't warm herself. She brought her hands to her arms, only resulting in further coldness, and cried. Tears welled, and ran down her cheeks, glistening in the light. Where was she? Why was this happening? As the tears continued to fall down her freezing face, she felt a warm, comforting touch on her forehead, a presence. One that seemed to pull her closer to Life itself. She closed her glassy eyes, and there, in her mind's eye, she saw the face and figure of Seto Kaiba. And from that, she didn't know how she knew it, but somehow she knew it was his warm palm on her forehead.

"Kaiba!" she called through her world, but the sound never reached the intended volume, and all that could be heard was a mere whisper...

_Kaiba..._

"KAIBA!" she yelled.

_Kaiba..._

"Please help me..." she sobbed.

_Help me..._

She squeezed the salty tears from her eyes, and what a sight did meet them. She could have sworn that Kaiba was a few metres in front of her.

And he was.

His eyes were closed, and she reached out to him with a transparent arm.

Kaiba opened his eyes, and squinted in an unusually bright light. As they grew accustomed to it, he saw a figure in front of him. A tall-ish, slim, female figure.

Serenity.

She held her arm out to him. Hoping to reach him.

"Kaiba?" she asked in despair. He looked directly at her.

"Where are we?" he asked, his voice echoing throughout the nowhere place.

"I don't know! I don't know!" she sobbed, "I can't get out!"

At first he thought that she was pathetic, and then he saw the tears that glistened, ready to fall from her big hazel eyes, and, against his will, felt himself soften. What if it was the mutt and Mokuba here now? and not him and and the mutt's sister? The mutt would help him, he knew, and he really ought to help her, although the idea made him queezy.

Serenity swam towards his unmoving figure, feeling warmer with every stroke she took. Still, he remained inert, but he had closed his eyes, apparently in thought. Deeply immersed in his thoughts, he didn't notice her moving closer to him, and was shocked out of his trance when he felt two hands on his shoulders. He opened his eyes and saw her, with her head buried in his trenchcoat. It seemed like she was hanging off him, and although they were both transparent, he could feel her full weight - which to be fair, wasn't much - on his shoulders. Even then, he felt paralysed to move, and both heard and felt her racking sobs against his chest.

"Kaiba please get me out of here..." she wept, her voice muffled in the white material, but the meaning boasted more clarity to his ears than the words themselves. Meaningless sounds, shaped and moulded into meanings. One, undoubtable meaning. However, his own conscience was less undoubtable. He felt a powerful force clawing at his back and wrists, and subsequently, himself being pulled back from her...

As Serenity clung to his trenchcoat, her tears wetting the pristine, stiff fabric, she felt safe. Even in her nowhere place, he was her only connection with Life. Being so close to him didn't feel like she thought it would; warm, comforting, as opposed to cold and hellish sensation that every girl thought it would be. As she was just beginning to feel stable, it was like he dropped her.

The warmth of his body was gone.

He was gone.

The cloth that had previously pressed against him flopped, and a non-existant current 'blew' it towards her, moulding it to the shape of her face. She clawed at it, pulling it away from her face so she could see it. True, Kaiba was gone, but his trenchcoat remained in her arms. The only reassurance that was left. She ran her fingers over the KaibaCorp insignia that was embroidered on the front, and to her surprise, it wasn't the KaibaCorp insignia that graced her fingers...

It was the silver Cross-Keys.

The crest of the Abhorsen.

There, in her nowhere place, left with nothing but a white trenchcoat for company, she floated in the vile nothingness, her tears blending with the clammy medium and disappearing from her cheeks, leaving it clean, but no less redder.

She was alone once again.


	20. Proof in Writing

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

_LAST TIME_

There, in her nowhere place, left with nothing but a white trenchcoat for company, she floated in the vile nothingness, her tears blending with the clammy medium and disappearing from her cheeks, leaving them clean, but no less redder.

She was alone once again.

**Proof in writing.**

Kaiba found himself once again falling through a black nothing, falling faster and faster. He gasped for breath, and soon realised that there was nothing to breathe. He struggled to accept that he could live, well, not live exactly, but exist without breathing. He didn't know what was providing his body with the energy to stay conscious if there was no oxgen to release the glucose in his cells that was needed for the energy to stay conscious.

He had got an A on that Biology paper.

Then he wondered why he was thinking about Biology papers, when this was clearly a magical happening. He didn't get the chance to think anymore, because his falling soul suddenly hit a new medium. A very hard one. One he didn't fall through. As vibrations shook his body violently, he felt a surge of anxiety hit him and spread through him, pushing his eyes open.

He woke up.

Daytime hallucinations flashed in front of his vision, and raised his head. All his muscles had stimulated with a fake fright, the type one gets when they have woken up from a bad dream and experienced the feeling of falling into their body.

Except this was no dream.

Kaiba removed his hand from her cold forehead and let wonderful, fresh air fill his deprived lungs. He definately preferred breathing. He leant back into the chair and sighed deeply, noticing that the others were still asleep, especially the mutt, who was snoring away like no tomorrow.

It was then that he became aware of the fact that he was no longer wearing his trenchcoat. His trenchcoat with his phones, intercom and other various gadgets. Not that they would be much good in Ancient Egypt anyway. Just as well, there was some seriously important stuff in there. But that was the point. If he wasn't wearing it, then where was it? The last thing he remembered was the broken girl hanging from his shoulders, sobbing uncontrollably. He didn't understand it. But that was only the first thing. His neck was still stiff, and he put a hand up to sooth it. The black fabric of his top brushed against his neck, and his eyes narrowed. A rougher feeling had brushed against his skin, like there was something stitched on it...

But there wasn't...

There wasn't supposed to be...

He pulled the fabric away from his neck so he could see it, and his eyes consequentially widened again. There, perfectly embroidered on the turtleneck, was a small logo that consisted of two silver keys, one crossed over the other. It was only small, about one and a half inches tall, but easily noticable against the jet black cotton. When the Hell had that got there? And what the Hell did it mean?

"Kaiba?"

He looked up from his collar to see Ishizu, wide awake and standing by the doorframe.

"Ishizu?" he said dryly. She hadn't been on the best terms with him since he beat her in Battle City, but he wasn't on good terms with her anyway so they remained distant, no matter how hard she tried to warn him of what Destiny held in store for him.

He had ignored her.

Refused to heed her warnings.

And now he was going to find out the hard way.

"Where's your trenchcoat?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.

"You tell me."

"What do you mean?"

"Nevermind." he said quickly.

"Thank you for watching her. Joey's as good as comatose at his rate." she commented, eyeing the blonde snoring away on the other side of the bed.

It wasn't his pleasure, but more like what had started out as a hellhole. Now it seemed to be a problem.

"Ishizu, is the Book of Shadows still in that potion room?" he asked her. She smiled and nodded, "And don't smile like that it's really disturbing." She smirked and followed him, having to jog to keep up with his massive strides. He reached the potion room and headed for the lecturn, where the Book lay closed. He put his hand to the rim of the cover to open it, and the triquertra on the front glowed brightly. He flicked through the pages, looking up 'alternate planes'.

"Ishizu, the Shadow Realm is the stage between Life and Death isn't it?" he asked, wanting to confirm his current suspicions.

"It is." she said, "Why?"

"What about others?"

"Excuse me?"

"Other planes. Like between the Shadow Realm and Life?"

"The Underworld is the only one I know of. And there are many planes that exist parallel to Life. The Ghostly Plane and the Insomnia Plane are two that come to mind..."

"What about personal planes?" he asked. She shook her head.

"I'm not a Charter Mage. I don't know anything about Life, Death or the stages in between." she complained. She thought for a moment, "But... I think there is something that would help, more than that Book."

He didn't look up, and she went next door to the office that had belonged to Kaiba and herself in their past lives. It was silent for a few seconds, and then a rummaging could be heard from the 'office'. Kaiba looked up from the Book and walked through.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for something."

"What, exactly?"

"Ah." she exclaimed, "This."

She held up a book that was bound in black leather with no visible title.

"What is it?"

"A book."

"Yes, I can see it's a book Ishizu but does it have a title?"

"The Book of the Dead." she replied, holding it out at arm's length, as an invitation for him to take it. She would rather have been doing anything else than touching it right then.

"Have a look in there."

"Why don't you do it?"

"I can't read it..."

"Then what makes you think I will?" he snapped. She shook her head and sighed;

"If you think you know what you are capable of reading and not reading Kaiba..." she began, "Think again. You have many abilities, many powers, that you have no idea you possess. You might be surprised what you can read." she said, holding the book out to him again. This time he took it, and felt the evil magic within it. Unlike before, he felt able to resist it, fight it, and it squirmed at not proving any threat. Not even been given a victim to turn. He opened it and looked at the marks that appeared on the contents page. At first they were foreign to him, but as he peered down at them, they seemed to reveal their meanings to him, decipher into understandable text. They assembled obidiently in his head, and he read down the page, following the marks with his index finger. He then flicked through the pages, while Ishizu congratulated herself silently. Kaiba had come to terms with his Destiny. She had achieved her goal; to find and drop hints to the new Abhorsen. She had found him alright. The latest of a magical lineage. The one chosen to keep the Dead down. She was smiling again.

_'Individual Planes..." _he read to himself, _"Are created when the pull of Death on an individual soul is balanced by an equal pull from Life, like a powerful family tie, the soul of a necromancer or Charter Mage, or love. However the pull from Life must be mutual. It can only exist if the soul can grasp it and want to stay in Life. Where exactly these planes lie is determined by the strength of the pull from Life, as the pull from Death is always constant, unless interfered with by the necromantic Bells... Like all alternate planes, only a Charter Mage or necromancer can enter these planes, aside from the souls themselves, but only if the necromancer or Charter Mage has a particularly strong emotional connection decreed by Destiny...'_

"Ishizu..." he began, but his words died in his mouth as he re-read the previous paragraph;

_'...like a powerful family tie...'_

He wasn't related to her, and he was quite glad about it.

_'...the soul of a Charter Mage or necromancer...'_

Serenity was no more either of these than he was a cornish pixie.

_'...or love.'_

Love.

Was that the only other option the book gave? He quickly scoured the page, and found nothing. He read the rest of the paragraph:

_'... The soul can only be brought out of this plane when the pull from Life strengthens to the point where the soul is brought back into Life, or weakens to the point where the soul can descend to Death, and the plane will cease to exist. In the case of reincarnation, when the Fate of two souls is entwined, because the death of the reincarnation is only subject to the death of the past counterpart and no other reason, these planes are often the result. Should one of the Life 'pulls' weaken or break, the soul plummets further toward Death, and the more time the soul is suspended in the plane, the stronger the forces needed to keep it there. Eventually these 'pulls' will break, and the soul will fall to the Nine Gates of Death.'_

He didn't love her, he knew that. His past counterpart had done, zealously so, so what if it was, as Ishizu would say, his Destiny? And why did he feel responsible for her? She was going to die. He slammed the book shut and stared at the wall. Walls were so captivating in these situations, the more sarcastic side of him thought.

"Sorry, what?" she asked in response to his previous question that he had failed to finish, "Have you found something?" he remained silent. She crossed her hands over her Millennium Tauk, which gave the funny half-glow again, and closed her eyes.

Kaiba felt a presence trying to invade his mind, read it. He knew it would be easy, because of his state of shock, and he fought it.

_"Ishizu get out of my head GET OUT!" _he thought, using all his mind power to repel her. It worked, and Ishizu stumbled backwards holding her head in her hand and exclaiming pain. He marched out, orbing out as he went, leaving Ishizu watching in awe. There went the only person who cold wake Serenity.

_Kaiba's POV_

I sat on a sand dune in front of the blue of the the Egyptian share of the Red Sea. The salt concentration was such that the water was almost black, but it was blue all the same. Not red at all. The sun was full on my back, and I felt only half dressed without my trenchcoat. Where the Hell was it? _She _didn't have it? Surely not, she can't have got it. And that stuff in the Book of the Dead can't have been either!

I don't love her.

I don't.

I don't know how I got to her though, it's gotta be one of my powers, it's gotta be...

What if it's not?

Oh God...

I will never fall in love. Love is for the weak. There is lust, and there is companionship, love is just the ridiculously happy medium between the two. Isn't it? It's the kinda thing you find in a tacky novel or a crappy movie with a director that can't think of anything better to put in it. I just can't imagine how it is possible for the feelings between two people to grow so strong. Love seems to be everybody's downfall. People fall in love and give up everything for it, sometimes their lives, for a relationship that probably wouldn't work out anyway. Why do it? You don't need love to be happy! Ha! Love means leverage, corruption and it destroys you when it ends! Why do it? Why do people put themselves through it? Fools...

But she is going to die...

_That night_

_Normal POV_

Kaiba lay awake, flat out on his back on the green grass of the palace gardens. It had been so hot inside when he had come back from his soul-searching mission he had gone straight outside and lain down, around the corner from sight of the others. Joey was still by his sister's side, and, to Kaiba's knowledge, hadn't eaten anything all day, despite having been offered things from the palace servants.

_"Someone else can watch her tonight." _Kaiba thought as he gazed up at the stars above. He looked at the patterns they made, and the stories they told. He went on to wonder why the final stage of Death happened to be stars. Good souls went to the stars, and evil sould sank to the murky depths of Purgatory, but the stars were the final calling. Maybe it was a way of knowing that good, ultimately, always prevails? In this world anyway.

Kaiba began to interpret them as meaning that when you see, and aim to do the right thing, and that thing seems clearer than crystal and more obvious than any other option, and that thing is the first, last, and only thing you see, before you plunge into the unescapable depths of something more terrible than you can imagine... But, was it terrible? Souls that descended to Purgatory were the souls that deserved to descend to Purgatory.

It was justice.

It was right.

And those souls were made to know that and feel that and understand with every fibre of their being.

Accept the consequences of what they had done in their lifetime.

Destiny was an evil thing, which held control over everything. Held the balance of the world. Destiny and Fate decided what happened to who, when, what, where, and how between them. And the Abhorsen was bound to keep Destiny. Keep Fate parallel to Destiny, so that what happened was what had been supposed to happen.

It was cruel.

The belief that everything was born neutral and chose their path was only true to an extent. If Destiny and Fate made them chose evil, then they were doomed to live an afterlife in Purgatory. It had been known for evil beings, demons and necromancers alike, to kill themselves to avoid this inevitable punishment, but the consequence for that was banishment in the Shadow Realm. Again, Fate had the final say.

It wasn't fair...

And yet it was fair. And the new Abhorsen knew it too. Would Destiny and Fate have him fall in love? He had tried to fight Destiny before, and although he put up a good fight, he had eventually succumbed to it. What's to say that he wouldn't again? But his Destiny was with good, not evil, and still it would not spare him from it's clutches.

A sleepy trance came over him as a light breeze blew at his face, as if bidding him sleep. A request that was gladly obeyed.

_Dream_

Kaiba opened his eyes to find himself floating in that clammy nothingness again. He looked around in the bright light, and saw Serenity, apparently sleeping, with his trenchcoat hugged tight against her. He swam over to her... God it was cold... and snapped his fingers to wake her. Nothing. She seemed to know he was there though, because when he put his hand on her shoulder to steady himself, her grip on the trenchcoat slackened and her lips curved into a smile. He knew she was cold...

He was cold.

She was colder.

He still had the warmth of Life on his back, whereas she didn't. He pulled the trenchcoat from her grip and fed her arms through the sleeveholes. He pulled it up around her shoulders and as the collar flapped in the liquidy substance, he saw the Cross-Keys crest instead of his KaibaCorp insignia. The same one that now graced his turtleneck collar. He still didn't know what it was. He was yanked away from this thought when, from the corner of his left eye, he saw her stir. Her eyes fluttered open and she shook her hair out of her vision. On seeing him, she began to sob again, but not from sadness anymore, she had finished that a long time ago, but from happiness. He hadn't left her there. He had come back. Even if not from his own desire, something had caused him to come back. She smiled weakly, and he gave a small smile back.

"Thank you..." she whispered, "For coming back." She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him again, her body falling on his. He felt a strange urge to wrap his arms around her waist, but resisted it and patted her on the back gently with his right hand.

"I don't know how I keep coming here..." he whispered. He had intended to talk in his full voice, but some technicality of the plane wouldn't let him, and it came out as a emotion-ridden whisper. Not how he had intended it to sound like.

"I don't care as long as you come..."

She nuzzled her cheek against his as they seemed to sink further into the plane. He closed his eyes and stroked her back tenderly, before shaking his head to knock himself out of this happy trance, but however hard he tried to wake up out of it, the further into it he fell. He felt feather-light, and would not have complained if he had been allowed to be there for longer.

She needed him to stay...

And he wanted to stay.

_"Must be the plane..." _he thought. He seemed to fall into a slumber where he was, if it weren't for Life, which seemed to be pulling him back. Away from her. And she knew it too.

"I will find a way to get you out of here..." he said gently, surprised at his own compassion, "I promise."

She looked up at him gratefully, and quickly kissed him on the cheek, before he faded away from her, back to Life.

Three days and three nights passed, and Kaiba ws still no closer to finding a way to release Serenity. Joey had tried to stay awake for the entire duration of it, but he collapsed from exhaustion and been relieved by Yugi, who had then been relieved by Mokuba. Kaiba studied the Book of the Dead vigorously, scouring ever page from cover to cover, with no luck. Every time he fell asleep, he found himself back in Serenity's plane. It felt like the connection between them was strengthening, but she came no closer to Life, because as Kaiba's feelings grew stronger, Joey's grew weaker, so she stayed where she was. Every time Kaiba fell asleep, he was back in that plane, liking her more and more, disliking her less and less. The strange instinct to protect and care for her growing stronger and stronger...

Being in her plane made Kaiba fall into a delirium. A delirium that seemed to be affecting her as well. With every visit to the plane it grew, with every visit to the plane he felt more at ease with holding her closer to him. What was weird was that this delirium faded when Kaiba returned to Life and woke up, leaving him to question himself. But his last time there had been the strangest. She had hugged him as normal, and he had held her, as normal. But unlike the last time and every other time, her mouth had somehow found his, and he had returned it, massaging her lips with his, fighting for a dominance over himself that he knew he couldn't have. He had wrapped his arms around her, and she had played with his chestnut hair and allowed his tongue to slide into her mouth...

Why had he done it?

In his right mind he wouldn't have done it...

The simple answer to that being he wasn't in his right mind. He hadn't been in his right mind since he had been sucked through the tablet in Domino Museum. Forced to walk into a world that he never believed existed. Why should any of this plane stuff be any different? How was it any worse than being sucked through a stone, teleported to Ancient Egypt, meeting his past incarnation, and becoming the Abhorsen?

It envolved his emotions.

Anyone he had ever loved, except Mokuba, was dead. And even then, Mokuba had had more than his fair share of near death experiences. Anything, anyone he touched he hurt.

So he had learnt to live without it. With no thanks to Gozaburo of course...

He pushed it as far away as possible, and came back to the ongoing problem of getting her out. Joey was getting weaker, and more and more of her hold on Life was dependant on Kaiba, but his feelings were still not enough to keep her position stable. If Joey broke, then she would descend to Death.

She would die...

At Serenity's bedside still sat Joey, barely awake, barely conscious. But still there all the same. His head lolled and he struggled to keep his eyes open. She was more dependant on him than he could ever imagine right then...

But Joey was slowly breaking...

Breaking...

Breaking...

Broken.


	21. Soul Searching

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Soul-Searching...**

_LAST TIME..._

At Serenity's bedside still sat Joey, barely awake, barely conscious. But still there all the same. His head lolled and he struggled to keep his eyes open. She was more dependant on him than he could ever imagine right then...

But Joey was slowly breaking.

Breaking...

Breaking...

Broken.

Kaiba sat by himself, cross-legged around in the spot he had come to call his own, the Book of the Dead and the Book of Shadows in his lap. There had to be an answer in one of these books.

Somewhere.

As he flicked through the stiff, crumpled pages of the Book of Shadows and the fine, neat pages of the Book of the Dead. The paper was almost like tracing paper, the kind of stuff that was used to make Bibles. He had no idea how the Ancient Egyptians could have made it, and his only suspicion was that they didn't. It must have been made using some sort of magic. The Book of Shadows seemed tense, and kept trying to fire itself away from the Book of the Dead. Kaiba held it's spine firmly and scolded it, after which it remained motionless.

Scolding a book...

He comforted himself in knowing that he wasn't losing it, but it still was strange. However it had seemed to have had the desired effect so he didn't worry about it any further. He himself felt edgy, like something was going to happen, and his senses were egging away at him for a reason that remained unknown to him. He felt a bit like when it was going to rain, and you can tell from hours before beacuse of the grey clouds and close atmosphere. It was that same unmistakable hunch. Except he didn't know it was going to rain. He didn't recognise the sensation. It was horrible and looming and dark, but he was unable to identify it.

He hated it...

But that was the least of his worries.

Without warning, a sharp, excruciating pain gripped at his heart, like someone was ruthlessly cutting and prying it out with a blunt object. He clutched at his chest madly and fell to his knees, squinting and gritting his teeth to avoid any sound catching the air. His muscles stiffened unbearably and cramped and contracted. Every nerve, both magical and physical was burning and alive to the greatest extent that they could. It felt like his heart had stopped completely, and he tried to inhale air into his lungs, but his entire body was shut down, and his breathing was therefore shallow and rushed. He shut his eyes tightly, wishing the pain away. He then felt a terrible sorrow. A depression, and for one terrible moment he actually did want to die. He thought he was going to die. He fought it off and forced himself to his feet, rubbing and calming his screaming calves and thighs. he made himself breathe deeply, although an echo of the pain was still there, his heart ached. Oh it did ache, in a new desperation too. It felt heavy as if gravity was pulling it down. He had never been in more pain than that.

A vile sadness plagued it, and after a few seconds, Kaiba noticed tears running down his cheeks. They hadn't been there before, he knew, and it wasn't because of the pain.

It was because of the sadness that it had provoked. But what the Hell had just caused that?

Little Yugi sat next to Serenity's bed with his head in his hands. First Serenity, and now Joey! True, Joey was only sleeping, not comatose, but sleeping all the same. He turned his head to the beautiful girl and saw that she was slightly paler than usual, and he held her hand in his, giving her what warmth he had. His fingers wandered to her wrist to check her pulse...

It was difficult to find.

After a few minutes of searching, and after pressing on what he was sure was the right artery, he tried her neck, just below her jawline.

Nothing.

He began to panic, and woke Téa, who also tried to find her pulse, but to no avail. They then woke the others, but failed to wake Joey, and tried to ressusicate her.

Still nothing.

**"ISHIZU!"**

Ishizu came running and observed the scenario. She put one hand to her Millennium Tauk, and the other to cover her dropped jaw.

"It is too late..." she gasped, watching the desperate teenagers trying to revive her...

But Serenity Wheeler was dead.

"Kaiba!" yelled a distraught Ishizu as she ran across the gardens, "KAIBA!" She ran around the wall and found him, but not how she had imagined to find him. He was sat down, leant against the wall, his legs weak and now as good as useless. His face was peaky, his lip trembling ever so slightly, and his sapphire blue eyes were no longer icy, but were glassy and shook with agony, like those of the others. Maybe even more. His whole demeanour was shattered and he was shaking coldly, even though it wasn't cold. She bent down in front of him, letting her knees take her weight and she tried to make eye contact with him.

"Kaiba?" she said softly, and he looked up to meet her sad yet surprisingly intimidating gaze. Her eyes widened as the possible reason for this nastily out-of-character behaviour.

"Do you love her?"

He opened his mouth to say no, but his heart refused to let his voice sound and he shut his eyes and turned his head away to avoid her. That much said it all.

"You do..." she whispered to herself in discovery, "But I See her living yet..." the silver crest on his collar shone in the moonlight and caught her eye. She looked up at him determindly, "You know what you have to do. It is time." she said, before getting to her feet and walking back to the mourning teenagers. The meaning of what she had said dawned upon him, and he set his jaw in determination. He closed his eyes, and a frost came over his body, as if he had been deep frozen in that position. The lights were not on and there was no one at home. He had gone where he had to go:

Death.

To bring her back.

Death was cold, far colder than Life, and a grey, dark, yet bright light illuminated the river, a light that seemed artificial, but had no source. It lit the water - if you could call it water - but not the riverbanks, which remained veiled in blackness... Were there riverbanks? No one knew, for a large part of how Death appeared was how Death was perceived, and it changed a bit every time. However it was always familiar and similar to the Abhorsen...

Except this one...

Well, they say there's a first time for everything... And not even the great Seto Kaiba was an exception. And there was another problem...

He had no Bells, and no sword...

The things that no necromancer or Charter Mage would ever go into Death without. But he was the Abhorsen for _his _time era, not Seth's, so therefore Seth still carried the Bells and sword. They would be waiting for him in 2006.

But he wasn't in 2006.

The water gushed past his thighs, and he found that moving in this river was much easier than moving in normal water. There was less resistance, and he could run if he had wanted to, but he didn't because the riverbed was a trickster, and took every oppurtunity to make anything that resisted it fall and be taken away by it's current. Normally, a Charter Mage or necromancer would carry a sword, point down, so that if they fell the sword would hit the riverbed and stop them from falling into the ruthless current.

But, of course, Kaiba didn't have a sword.

He went as quickly as he could, and passed the First Gate, the Second Gate, the Third Gate, the Fourth Gate, the Fifth Gate... But there was no sign of her. He would sense where she was, and all he could sense was that he was getting closer.

_"Serenity..."_ he whispered gently. The whisper echoed all around and became louder, louder, louder. It rang throughout Death, making the water jump and dance to the sound. So close, yet so far away. He looked down at his wobbly reflection in the water, and saw his Charter Mark discreetly light up. A disturbance in the water made him look up. A ball of light arose from the water, and Kaiba's heart skipped several beats. It slowly changed shape, and took a form. The form of Serenity. She was as beautiful in Death as she was in Life and every other plane, and once more he felt that unbearable pain erupt. She stood with his back to him, looking forward to her supposed destination. Her spirit had not changed in any way. Only the purest souls could travel through Death without disfiguring and transforming. Her red hair blew in a non-existant breeze and she turned around, the clear water flowing around her hips. He walked up to her as she gasped and a smile appeared on her face.

He did love her.

He knew it now, although how exactly it had happened was a mystery to him. She likewise.

_"I knew you would..." _she whispered, _"I was afraid..."_ He smiled, and like a flash, bent down and slipped his strong arms under her, picking her clean out of the water. He kissed her softly, cutting off any words she might have had, and headed back towards Life.

It was almost morning once again, and while the others lay sleeping with exhaustion, one remained awake, tears running down his face. Mokuba Kaiba was the only one with any energy left. When Joey had woken up, Yugi, as the best friend, had the task of breaking to him the news that his sister had in fact passed away. Joey had gone over to her, felt her pulse, shook her several times, and collapsed at her side, sobbing and wailing into her sleeve, repeatedly saying ''Ren, 'Ren... please no...'. He hadn't even been able to say goodbye to her. The others had cried too, and the palace walls heard nothing but sorrow and mourning. Now they were asleep yet again... Except Mokuba. He couldn't sleep. She had been a mother figure to him since he had met her, and now she was gone horrible memories of his parent's deaths were brought to the surface. She had died peacefully. Hadn't she? He wanted to know, and he still held her hand and told her how he would miss her.

But it wasn't really neccessary...

He fell silent and sank into his thoughts. Why? It had been completely out of the blue. Completely unneccessary.

What was that?

His head snapped up to look at her face. He could have sworn that she just squeezed his hand. He studied her face more carefully, and on closer inspection, he could see the muscles in her face tightening slightly.

"What the Hell..." he murmered under his breath, "Serenity?" he asked hopefully, "Serenity? Can you hear me?"

"Hmm..." she hmmed quietly, but loudly enough for him to hear.

"Oh my God..." he gasped, as he felt her pulse beat strongly again.

"Seto..." she whispered, her eyes still shut tightly, "Seto..."

"What? Serenity it's me, Mokuba..." he said with new enthusiasm. She smiled weakly.

"Hey Mokuba..." she murmered. He perked up and grinned from ear to ear.

"GUYS! **GUYS!"** he yelled at the top of his lungs. The gang was jerked out of their sleep, even Joey - heck that was a first, "SHE'S ALIVE SERENITY'S ALIVE!"

"WHAT!" they all yelled in reply, and he pointed at the bed. They scrambled to their feet and crowded around her, and grinned and laughed out loud when they saw her move and open her eyes. Joey threw his arms around her, cutting off her air supply,

" 'Ren Oh my God I thought I lost yas!" he said from his bear hug. Serenity gasped and pointed to her throat, "Oh, sorry 'Ren." he said goofily.

Joey was back.

"Joey I love you so much big brother..." she said happily, grinning herself.

"I'm gonna go tell Seto!" said Mokuba, before darting out of the door. He screeched to a halt when he saw his big brother on his feet, leaning against the wall, looking in on the others.

"Hey Seto!" he shouted.

"Hey Mokuba." he replied.

"You'll never guess what just happened!"

"Try me."

"Serenity just woke up! She's alive she's alive she's alive!" he bounded up and down on the spot. Kaiba smirked to himself, and Mokuba saw it, and narrowed his eyes. Ishizu had told him about his brother's powers and Marik's little theory.

"That's good"

"And I have something to ask you Seto."

"Hm?"

"How was it, that the first word that came out of her mouth was your name? Your _first _name?" he asked with an eyebrow raised, and watched knowingly as his brother broke eye contact with him.

"She said my name?"

"Well, she said 'hm', but technically 'hm' isn't a word, so..."

"I'm flattered."

"Seto, is there something you're not telling me?"

"I don't believe so."

"Well I think there is. I talked to Ishizu..."

"Whatever possessed you to do _that_?"

"I wanted to know what was going on! Anyway, you..."

"I just saved her from Death that's all."

"Oh right! _That's _all!" he said, before taking on a quieter, more serious tone, "You fell in love with her didn't you?"

"What?" he covered, but Mokuba could see the red on his brother's cheeks, no matter how subtle it was. He was going to kill Ishizu, and then bring her back so he could kill her again.

"Oh come on Seto I know you better than that! To you, other people are like Marmite."

"... ... Explain."

"You either love 'em, or you hate 'em. And you don't give a damn about those you hate. So the only reason I could think of for you saving her was because you love her..."

"Mokuba..." he said as he was dragged by his wrist to the others.

"Go on Seto! Tell me I'm wrong! Go on! Tell me!" Mokuba demanded. He looked away and bit his lip, "HA! I'm not wrong! You do love her! So you gotta come see her then!"

"Mokuba..." he complained again as he was dragged through the door.

"He's not going anywhere this time." Mokuba told the others.

"Hey Kaiba." they all said, even more brightly than usual. He kept his uniform expression, until he saw her. She was sat on the edge of the bed with Joey's arm around her. He felt like someone had just knocked all the air out of him with one punch. He stopped in his tracks and looked at her almost nervously. Everyone thought this was due to Kaiba not knowing she was now alive. How wrong they were. Serenity got to her feet for the first time in days, but it was as if she had never been dead, or comatose. She flung her arms around Kaiba, and he hugged her back, both of them too happy for words. He really wanted to kiss her again, to taste her mouth again, but there was a time and a place. Everyone had fallen silent.

Had Serenity just hugged Kaiba?...

Kaiba just returned it?...

Kaiba's not an android!...

Kaiba has feelings!

"KAIBA! GETCHA PAWS OFF 'A MA SISTA!"...

Joey was flipping his lid and blowing steam out of his ears. He had a mini-fit and blew some more steam before marching up to Kaiba and waving his index finger around. The only people not laughing were Kaiba and Joey themselves, with the slight exception of Tristan, who was putting on a brave face.

"Paws? That's rich coming from you mutt. Oh, wait, no it's not, it can't be can it..."

"Shuttup Moneybags."

"Cool it you two." said Serenity, and both of them obediently stilled their tongues.

Is now the best place to end the story? With a happily ever after? Well, as long as Joey doesn't mind too much... But they were, of course, still in Ancient Egypt, with no idea where their counterparts had buggered off to. The palace was peaceful, but the Priests and Pharaoh were far from that now. Many lives were lost at the hands of Zork...

"Hey," said Serenity, "If I'm alive again, why aren't we going home? Where's the portal?"

Everyone looked around, and then to Ishizu. Kaiba and Serenity did love each other, the Empath could feel it, still, there must be something more...

"Don't look at me I don't know!" she said, "We can't be finished yet." Everyone groaned. It was far from over. It picked up when Seth orbed back to the palace with Mana. Blue lights swirled and the two figures appeared.

"Mana? Seth?" asked Ishizu gently, "What the Hell happened?"

She had reason to be concerned. Mana was fine, tired, and upset, but she was physically unharmed. Not so much could be said for Seth. His clothes were torn and tattered, and his body was covered in bruises and open wounds. He no longer wore his blue headdress and the rest of his attire was bloodstained. He leant against the wall and breathed hard, his cheeks were redder than normal and were peaky, like he had been crying but had stopped a few minutes prior. Mana collapsed to her knees and sobbed into the ground. Seth closed his eyes as if he were blocking out a terrible, unwanted reality. Mana tried to answer but then choked on her own sobs and Seth took over.

"Dead..." he said painfully, "Everyone."

"What do you mean?" asked Ishizu.

"Isis, Mahado," he listed. Mana wailed at the sound of her teacher's name, "Karim, Shaada, Akunadin, Atem... And Kisara..." his voice broke then, "No one survived..." he paused for breath, "Except us."

"Ra let me go with them! Why did you provide me with safety and them not! Why!" Mana cried, and Seth fought hard to swallow his own tears. He suddenly grasped at a wound in the side of his abdomen, and when he removed his hand it was covered in blood. Kaiba went over to his lookalike and made his hand hover just over Seth's heart. A warm glow appeared in his hand and Seth's wounds began to disappear. Bruises faded and open wounds sealed up and blood vanished.

"Thank you." he said, as pain ebbed away and the ease of normal existance returned. Mana continued to cry, and Mokuba was suddenly hit by a brainwave:

"Bring them back." he said.

"What?" asked Seth.

"Bring them back. You can can't you?"

"I could bring back some, but not all of them I am weak." he said, "And I could not bring back some and not others. I couldn't make that decision."

"You don't have to, Seto will help you."

"Eh?" said Kaiba warily.

"You've pulled your power before! You can! Hello? Two Abhorsens! Double threat that doesn't happen often! And what will happen to Egypt? With no Pharaoh and no Priests there is no Egypt. Have you got anyone to take their places!" he rambled. Seth shook his head, "Well then?" Mokuba saw Seth starting to think about it, and used his final persuasion tactic; "For Kisara. You want her back don't you?" Seth's head snapped up and he sighed,

"Alright." he said, looking to Kaiba, who nodded, "Let's go soul-searching."

And by that, he meant literally.


	22. Return of the Hierachy

**A Charter Mage Scorned...**

**Eeeeeee Gods! Chapter 22! I only intended it to be about eight chapters long, but I get carried away easily... Read Seth's little speech/confession to Kisara, I got all teary when I wrote that. Put it this way; Love does strange things to people... Especially Seth. Bless their cottons... Oh, and by the way; how many SethxKisara fics _ever _have a happy ending? She usually ends up dying and then he either dies or turns evil or turns gay. Well, for all you sadists out there; here you go, they've died, and now... - well, you'll have to find out won't you? ... It's gonna be a 'happily ever after' fic this one... Enjoy! And look out for my next fic it's gonna be a ManaxMahado with some cool twists, but until then, TTFN!**

**Return of the Hierachy...**

_LAST TIME..._

"Alright." he said, looking to Kaiba, who nodded, "Let's go soul-searching."

And by that, he meant literally.

"Are you sure that you have to go somewhere in order to do this?" asked Yugi, "I mean, can't you send sombody else and save your energy?"

"I'm the only whitelighter. I would send Aeneas..."

"Why don't you then?" Yugi said, surprised at the speed of his mouth, and regretted saying it. Seth explained;

"I was thirteen when I first saw someone dead. Not a demon. Not a necromancer. My comrades and friends. I was disturbed and shocked to the core. He's eleven. It is completely and utterly out of the question." he said, making it sound so blatently obvoius that Yugi almost felt ashamed to have been so unsensitive, "But first we have to find the bodies and heal them. We can't bring them back if they're just going to die again."

"Agreed." said Kaiba.

A few hours later the bodies of the Priests, Kisara and the Pharaoh had been gathered and healed, and now they just looked like they were sleeping peacefully. Serenity was particularly unnerved at the sight of 'herself' lying there dead. On the bright side, Seth's strength was returning and he was now as good as normal. His clothes were still ripped and showing more flesh than usual - not that any of the girls were complaining about that - but he wasn't concerned about that at the moment.

"Can we summon them all back, instead of going into Death and finding every last one. Going in is going to take along time by which time it may be too late for some of them." Kaiba said, as if he had been doing it his entire life. Seth agreed. They summoned the most magic that was possible between the two of them, drawing Charter and Free Magic marks. Seth drew Sareneth - the Binder - and Mosrael - the Waker.

"_We call upon the Magics great,_

_The Seven Bright Shiners, _

_The Nineth and Eighth,_

_To on our commands and powers wait, _

_To right a wrong of flawful Fate._

_In this night, _

_And in this hour,_

_We call upon the ancient power,_

_Relieve the sacrifice and cost;_

_ Through Time and Space,_

_Return the lives of those been lost."_

Seth rang both Bells simulatneaousy, Sarenth in a figure of eight, Mosrael in an oval shape. Their song, Sarenth; deep authorative, and Mosrael, loud and almost annoying, like an alarmclock, rang throughout Life and Death alike, and a heavy spiritual presence was felt by all present. The bodies glowed with a bright, white light, which turned bright blue, and then faded slowly. Isis and Mahado were the first to come around. Isis' eyes opened, and she gasped for air and sat up quickly. Mahado supported his weight on his hands and sat up more slowly, rubbing his head, with no less surprise.

"What happened?" she she said rapidly, "I though I was..."

"Dead?" Mahado finished. They both looked at Seth, "Seth..." said Mahado, "You didn't..."

"You are supposed to lay the Dead to rest, not bring them back!" Isis snapped.

"She's back..." Seth murmered, before addressing her properly, "Actually, the Abhorsen is supposed to keep Fate parallel to Destiny, be it reviving souls or sending them on, so naturally, I had to intervene."

"Thank you..." said Mahado, who was going to say some more, but his air supply was cut off by Mana, who hugged him to death. Not literally... Well, nearly... "Mana..." he said, "I... can't breathe..."

"Oh! Sorry!" she said, jumping off him. Atem stirred and sat up, and Mana's attentions were turned to him. Poor old Karim and Shaada didn't receive such a welcome. "ATEM!" she yelled, hugging him as well.

"But, I... I could have sworn..." he stuttered through Mana's attack.

"As did we all." said Isis, "And we owe it to a rather obnoxious High Priest..."

"Would you rather be dead?" Seth asked, "Because I can send you back there you know." Isis chuckled. Seth looked at Kisara, who was still shrouded by the blue light. He walked over to her slowly and stood over her.

_"Mufaskh kem, optkh hu kya aret, bin bdehiskh,_ _jaq kufu aalkt mufaskh nij paaruqukh..." _he said, recalling when he had first seen her, saw her sleeping face, fallen faster than he could grasp. **(A/N: Remember chappie 9 the text from Seth's armbands? Yeah, that's it.) **The blue light shone brighter, turning slightly purple, and then faded like the others. She opened her eyes slowly and sat up, completely unaware of what was going on, whether this was some kind of hallucination, or dream, or was it real?

"Kisara..." he said softly, unlike anyone else had ever seen him speak. She looked back into his sapphire eyes, and he continued in Arabic to avoid the others understanding, "You stole my heart, my world, and taught me the meaning of true love..." he confessed to her. The other Priests and Pharaoh listened, and couldn't quite believe their ears. She smiled, "You gave your life that I might live, and refused to leave my side. I did not know the meaning of living until now. And now I find myself in a debt I can never hope to repay. Know only this dearest Kisara; through Life and Death, through Hell and high water, I stand at your side and will protect you with my life and more. I love you."

All the Egyptians, including Ishizu and Marik, stood dumbstruck. While the others conferred amongst themselves - what the Hell was he saying? Kaiba smirked, he though he had a pretty damn good idea. Kisara grinned, almost in tears herself.

"I love you Seth, and I would do it a thousand times again." she said, stopping herself from crying. Seth wrapped his arms around her waist, picked her clean up from the floor and spun her around, both of them laughing happily, before putting her down, although not releasing her from his grasp. Isis smiled to herself,

"You just don't care anymore do you?" she said.

"No." he replied, holding Kisara close.

"Well done Seth, and thank you once again."

"I wish to announce that it isn't me you should be thanking." he said, and Isis gave him a weird look, "Thank my hikari. Both of us had to pull our power. I, really couldn't have done it without him." he admitted. The other Priests and the Pharaoh all looked at Kaiba, who smiled, yes, he smiled, only a bit though. Still, it's a start.

"What have I told you Kaiba?" asked Ishizu.

"Don't push it Ishizu." he snapped.

"Well," announced Atem, interrupting the tension there, **(A/N: Think Cap'n Jack Sparrow speech here peeps! (don't own Pirates of the Carabbean!)** "I think we've come to a very good old happy ending here haven't we? Spiritually? Socially? Romantically? ..." he was about to continue, but Mana punched him on the arm. Quite hard. The others all chuckled and he scowled, rubbing his arm frantically. Another blue light appeared in the garden, and a whirling vortex emerged, showing 2006 through it's midst. The 2006 crew all perked up and grinned.

"Looks like you're going home." said Isis, "You did it! Oh, thank you!" she said, and went up to everyone and kissed them on both cheeks and hugged them, as did Mana and Kisara. Yugi went up to Atem and held out his hand. Atem looked at him as if he were mad, and Yugi rolled his eyes at himself.

"You're supposed to shake it." he said daftly, and the Pharaoh took his hand and shook it.

"Until we meet again, hikari." he said, and Yugi nodded in approval.

"Congratulations. Well done." Isis praised Ishizu on finally managing to make Kaiba believe. Seth approached Kaiba and shook his hand.

"You'll make a great Abhorsen." he said in his more usual tone.

"You're not bad yourself." Kaiba replied, "Take care of Kisara."

"I will. Likewise. Farewell."

"Goodbye."

Everyone said their goodbyes and then the 2006 crew walked towards that portal, but were stopped by Atem at the last minute.

"My friends, this will be the day you'll _always _remember as the day you _almost _got stuck in Ancient Egypt." he grinned and everyone looked at him daftly, before the others stepped back through the portal, disappearing into the blue ligtht, back to their future, which was possibly better because of it. As it closed a slience fell upon the Pharaoh and Priests, and everything was quiet once more. What a day! Isis was the one to break the silence;

"Good children." she said, "Guide them well Shaada." Shaada nodded, "Right," she said, looking at the men as if they had just let the world end, "Back to work you lazy lot!" she shouted, and everyone except Seth, Kisara and Atem scattered back to their duties. There would be a lot of catching up to do. Atem took one look at his cousin and wisely left, smiling to himself, leaving them alone. Seth wrapped his arms around her again and smiled à la Seth.

"You never change do you?" she asked.

"Still your tongue. I personally think it is best used otherwise." he said, before capturing her mouth in a demanding and passionate kiss. They were together again, and would be until 2006, and beyond.

**THE END**


	23. SEQUEL!

**Sequel Alert!!!**

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**WildEm: Hi everyone, just thought I'd post this up here to let you know that ****THIS FIC HAS A SEQUEL!!!!!**** It's called 'A CEO Scorned'.**

Summary: Péséraelle, a French medical student wakes from 5 months of PVS, making the DM act very strangely. When Kaiba must revive the 1 person who can restore her joie de vie, with the help of a talking cat, he realises where his own truly lies SxS

Quotes:

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"Do you even _watch _the news, Kaiba-boy?"

"_Yes_!!!" Seto spat, glaring with all the force he could muster. Elizaveta chucked a cold flannel at him, which he caught with viscious reflexes and mopped his brow.

"And you, _didn't, _recognise the language that was coming out of her mouth?"

Seto didn't answer.

"I don't get it Uncle Max..."

Seto started choking.

Elizaveta continued. "... Why is there a problem? I mean, everyone who temporarily comes out of PVS talks gibberish, not that I can count many..."

Pegasus shook his head. "But this isn't gibberish. Far from it. Just because people don't recognise a language doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Or never _has _existed, I should say. She's talking Ancient Egyptian."

"Really?"

"Hm. And as Kaiba-boy here _is_ the reincarnation of an Ancient Egyptian High Priest, well..." he shrugged, "I thought he might be concerned."

"What concern is it to me? Some French woman came out of PVS. Alright. Good for her. I, don't care. And anyway why didn't you take it to the Pharaoh and his dweeb patrol, it sounds like it's just up their street. Or Ishizu, maybe? I'm not sure I'm qualified as a psychiatrist."

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"I gotcha now Péséraelle! Dark Magician, direct attack her life points now!"

Raising his staff to point at Péséraelle, the mage prepared to strike before his eyes widened slightly, realisation seeming to be present in their depths.

Staring back at the mage on Yugi's side of the field, it's, no, his shiny polished armour glinting in the fading light of the hologram technology. His purple robes hugging his elegant physique that for some reason, did not seem to be strange to her. He looked at his target and his eyes narrowed slightly. The usually emotionless pools of lilac suddenly flashed into life, and his jaw dropped ever, ever such a little bit.

It was his eyes, and face that drew her attention. In her mind, a small vision of her recent dreams materialised. Images of her, but dressed in ancient Egyptian clothing, sobbing on a piece of stone. The stone had an intricate image cut into it that looked so life like. In it, a man in a mage's outfit with a scepter had been engraved. More images of her sobbing over the piece of stone continued to swarm her mind, and she swore she heard her look-a-like say "_Don't leave me, Mahado, please come back... I never meant any of those things I used to say to you when we were younger... I... I... I... I just did not want to seem like I was weak in front of you... But now... I will come after you, Mahado..._"

Simultaneously, the purple robed mage began panting as sweat dripped down his face. Yugi might have been mistaken, or course, but, this was the first time that he had ever seen the Dark Magician breathe. Actually inhale air. The very staff that struck fear into many opponents and monsters was quivering within his grip from holding it so tightly.

_"No..."_ Péséraelle almost heard as she saw the magician shake his head, his eyes seemingly begging,_ "No I won't...!"_

"Dark Magician?" Yugi called, his own face wrought with confusion. Still the mage stood immobile. _"There's gotta be something seriously wrong here. This had never happened before. There's gotta be a reason why he won't attack her..."_

Staring at Péséraelle, the mage slightly shook his head, still mumbling lowly _"No, no..."_

Growing annoyed at the immediate pause of the duel, Seto tapped the microphone on his trench coat collar, saying "Run a system error scan on station twelve."

Impatiently waiting a minute, Seto grumbled, muttering "Stupid operators." Pulling out his cell phone, he sent a quick text message, which was answered soon by the microphone bursting to life.

"_What is the matter now_!?" Seto's bossy Computer voice boomed. "_Honestly! A girl needs her beauty sleep ya know!"_

"Watch it, before I remove your anti-virus software!"

"_You wouldn't_!"

Seto sighed, mentally saying "_Stupid Computer, I should never have made it so lifelike._"

Regaining his composure, he remarked "Don't push it. Run a system error check on station twelve."

"_Just gimme one cotton-picking minute here_." the Computer arrogantly replied.

"What da heck's goin' on 'ere?" Joey called to Kaiba. "Eh Moneybags, what's up wit' your fantastic holographic simulation system?"

"_Running total system sweep error detection. Anti-virus software refreshed. Anti-spyware software refreshed. Running Norton bugfinder. Back-up systems, booting up. Back-up systems operational_..." the Computer rambled on while looking for any problems.

Kaiba shot a death glare at the Joey, snapping back with "For your information, mutt, there is nothing wrong with my technology."

Joey pointed at the purple trembling mage on the field, saying "Then how d'ya explain 'dat?!"

Interrupting, the Computer said "_Running system refresh. System re-booting. Checking for external breaches_..."

"What's taking so long?" Seto demanded, turning his cheek into his collar so as to speak into the mike more clearly. The others watched him with idle curiosity.

"_Beats the hard drive outta me!!! I can't find any errors! What exactly is going on down there_?" the Computer grumpily asked.

"One of the monsters in play won't carry out an order. What could cause this?" Seto asked while running a hand through his hair.

"_Hacks, connection malfunctions, neither of which are present. I've run every check three times already!!!_" the computer irritably responded. "_Which monster is it_?"

"Not that it means anything to you, but it's the Dark Magician. Why are you so nosey?"

Somewhat taken back, the computer smugly responded with "_Me, nosy? I'm insulted. A girl's gotta get some gossip from somewhere, ya know!The Dark Magician, eh? Ooh, the hot one_..."

Seto glared at the control screen and grabbed at his mike. "I am not discussing this with you! You're a computer!" he said, before breaking the line and switching the mike off.

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"Pharaoh..." the Dark Magician pleaded, kneeling on the floor before Atem, who looked almost as bewildered, he had never quite gotten used to people kneeling at his feet.

"Dark Magician, what happened?" he asked, softly yet authoratively. The spellcaster's breathing was erratic again, his chest heaving underneath his armour.

"I failed you my Pharaoh... I broke my oath... I swore I would fight for you and I betrayed you..."

"Dark Magician, Yugi still won the duel. I just do not understand..."

"Peseshet..." the magician choked, "It was Peseshet..." His mouth opened as he tried to speak and he shook his head, looking up with pleading eyes, "I... I... could not attack her my Pharaoh, I could never attack her... Never... I had to choose... I feel so ashamed... But..."

Atem knelt down by the spellcaster's side, and he looked away. "Her name is Péséraelle." he explained. He gasped as memories of Seto speaking to her in Egyptian flooded back, and were followed by more, more ancient ones. A conversation with High Priestess Isis replayed in his mind, she explained to him how it was high time that he ask her...

_"Of course!!! How could I not have seen?"_he asked himself. Peseshet, Péséraelle, Peseshet, Péséraelle...

"But you love her." he said quietly, finishing the magician's sentance.

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"Yugi, Ishizu, Shaadi and Mahado. Yugi is a naive child! Ishizu is insane! Shaadi is God only knows what and Mahado..." Kaiba began,

"Is my friend, and the most talented magician I have ever met. His head is screwed on properly! Why do you think we get along?" Seth continued, "Yugi is naive, and so is Atem, to a small extent. But Atem is my cousin and is not half as foolish as he lets on. Ishizu, like yourself, has had an unpleasant childhood, and also like yourself, has to look out for her brother, hikari. She takes comfort in knowing that she is right. Isis is not half so collected. Yes, Isis is insane, and we tease her about it, and we move on. Neither of them are stupid, and unlike some of Yugi's friends, are mature and intelligent enough to think before they open their mouths. Ishizu and yourself are more similar than you know."

"Oh, and now you're gonna tell me that Shaadi's 'not half as bad as I think' as well??"

Seth shook his head. "No. No, Shaada is worse. Shaada is the one who does not know how old he is. Again, we pat him on the shoulder, and send him in the right direction."

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"_Well there you are!!! I've been worried sick about you!!!_"

Seto's face deteriorated into a murderous one. He _had _to do something about that computer. "I was gone for a day!!!"

"_Precisely!!! I thought you'd died or something!!!_"

"Thanks for your vote of confidence."

"_Arnold and I were wondering what was going on!_"

Seto's hand froze on the keyboard. "Who the Hell is Arnold?"

"_Our back-up miniframe._"

"You called our back-up miniframe Arnold?"

"_You just have to burst my bubble, don't you?_"

"It seems to be becoming a regular arrangement. So go on. You're dying to tell me. What happened when I was gone?"

"_Well, the same old really, Siegfried called ranting about something, Helen couldn't understand what he was saying though, and it was Johan's day off._" **(A/N: 'Johan Hirsch' in German is pronounced 'Yo-han Hee-er-ssh'. )**

"Hm. Figures." he said, double-clicking on 'attach-files'. Johan Hirsch was the company's official German translator, and everything German that Seto himself didn't deal with, he dealt with, and Seto normally did it on the days when Herr Hirsch was not at work. Unfortunately, Helen, Seto's green haired boffin-like yet incredibly efficient PA, spoke English, French, Spanish and Mandarin, but not German. Not that Siegfried didn't know this. Call Helen on Thursday mornings or Saturday afternoons and he would automatically be put straight through, because there was no Herr Hirsch.

"_Oh, and did you get drunk in the Bahamas recently by any chance?_"

Seto choked on his sip of coffee. "WHAT???"

"_Well, I dunno, it's just that I swear I saw you yesterday._"

"I didn't come in yesterday."

"_Tell me about it._"

Seto paused. "So what was the 'drunk in the Bahamas' comment in aid of?"

"_It may have been my colour sensors being weird. It's just I swear I saw you, only for a few seconds, and my colour sensors depicted that your skin tone was a few shades darker than usual._"

Seto froze. His face paled and his palms began to feel damp. "It's your colour sensors." he lied quickly, "That explains the Bahamas. So why would I have been drunk?"

"_Ahem, attire. That was a funky hat... Are you alright Seto?_"

Seto clenched his fists and began to vent poisonous fumes. "How many times do I have to tell you _not _to call me that???!!!"

The Computer would have smirked if it had lips. "_I'm a computer. Whattya gonna do? Unplug me???_"

Seto began to lower his head to the desk, but looked up as she/it answered. "No, but I _could_ disable your CPU."

"_NOOOOOOO!!!_" Seto had to cover his ears for the duration of this outburst, "_I'll be brain-dead!!!_"

"That's a point. Hmm..." he tapped his fingers together in a way that said 'I'm an evil scheming businessman', "I'll turn your volume right down, so I can still use you, but you can't annoy me. You can't you can't you _can't_!"

"_You're crushing my soul._"

"I really don't care." he said, shuffling through papers and moving some into the out-tray. "Load my inbox."

"_Which folder?_"

"All." he said, as the Computer typed and the password, which was made up out of gibberish, numbers and punctuation.

"_I've deleted those in 'Bulk', and some of those timewasters in 'Public Relations', but you do have a new promo to give the thumbs up or down to, but that's little. So, starting with 'Sales', monthly reports from all seven main international branches in, I'll send those to the laser and back-up 'em up, then in 'Stock', we have orders from the regulars to be read, allowed or disallowed, and the sent to be processed, none in 'Manufacture', I guess all's good there, 'Media' is surprisingly good today. They're laying off you because of something Deutsche Robotische Mechanik are doing, someone had an affair with someone else, and it's a bit messy at the moment, anyway they're swamping the poor buggars over there right now. And, you have one in 'Personal'._"

Seto frowned. "Open it."

"_Sure._"

The Computer opened a new window and loaded the e-mail. It read from There was a thud as Seto's head hit the desk.

"Damnit!!!"

"_Why 'damnit', Seto? You just got a message from your girlfriend_."

"She's not my girlfriend."

The answer came out of Seto's mouth like a packet of sweets falls out of the vending-machine after a certain code has been punched in, and he inwardly cursed himself for letting it. This vending-machine effect was controlling almost everything he said. However, the Computer knew exactly which codes to punch in, and when technical errors occured.

"_Oh __really__? Last week's webcam begs to differ. You honestly think I didn't notice you two sucking on each others' faces like the Apocalypse was tomorrow? I mean wow! Talk about condensation on the LCD screen!!! But let's get one thing straight: I was on your desk first!!! Okay???_"

Seto felt his cheeks warm. "Wh... What?"

"_So were you drunk? 'Cause..._"

Seto finished her trail of thought. "And we're back to the 'drunk in the Bahamas'..."

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**It would be really great if you guys could check this out, and thank you so much for reading this far on ACMS already, and leave me a review or two on this sequel!!! Thanks!!!**


	24. SIDE FIC!

**Also there are a few sidestories up, one called 'A Call to Arms', which is based on the Charmed S7 premier episode, with a few bits added in to make it more interesting. **

Summary: Due to a magical mishap, Isis has six arms, Seth thought his babysitting days were over, and Mahado's lack of experience gets him into trouble during a medical pelvic examination. Some quite interesting pairings lol.

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"Help!!! ... Somebody help!!! ... Please??!!!"

Seth was not having a good day. it had started out as having to use Electrokinesis to defibrillate a dying man who had a heart problem, which might not have been so bad, if he hadn't been vomited on as soon as the man came around. Apparently, Lady Tawe, Karim's older sister and Head Physician had told him, heart problems were not the only problems he had.

So now, after having washed, changed, and yelled at a few servants, just to give him some peace of mind, he had gone back to the Infirmary for what he had gone for in the first place - the death census for the month - only to return to find Lady Tawe holding a baby over her shoulder.

_Flashback:_

"Oh, aw ibek Hm Ntjr..." she said cheerfully, hushing the baby, "I am surprised that you are back here so quickly."

He grimaced a little, before putting his usual face back on. "Tieu, and I am not going to be sidetracked this time."

"You need those numbers?"

He nodded.

"Alright, I'll just go and find the scroll, oh, can, you, just..." she pushed the baby into his arms.

"Um, can I not just get the file myself?" he asked, backing off a slightly. As if babysitting the Pharaoh had not been bad enough. Actually, he still did sort of babysit Atem, but if there was one he really hated, it was children. Especially children that you couldn't shut up and couldn't frighten. It was like he was stripped of his special ability to scare people. And he didn't like it. He eyed the child warily, "He... He is... very nice... but... I... I am not good with children... "

"She's a girl."

Seth blinked. "Oh."

Lady Tawe saw this and smirked, before breaking out into chuckles. "Oh Hm Ntjr, she is only two months old. Surely she does not scare you?" Seth stared at the baby, "Alright." she said, gently forcing the baby into his arms and walking away before he could protest, "Could you please check her rash for me..."

"I..."

"Dua Netjer en ek!!! Her name is Amenitrê." she said, as she disappeared around the corner. Oh good Rê. He could smell baby.

_End Flashback:_

"Alright alright relax I'm back. How is her rash? Does she need ointment?"

Seth gulped. "Can I just have those numbers?" he gave the baby back to Tawe as if it were a hot potato, grabbed the scroll and ran out as fast as he could. Tawe kept quiet for as long as she could, before bursting out into laughter.

"Hahahaha!!! Oh... I do not think that we shall be seeing him up here again for a while, hm Amenitrê?"

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"Hm..." said Seth, "If you have not kissed her by the end of next moontide, I will owe you five gold deben."

"What is it with you and trying to buy me off?"

"And if you have, you shall owe me the same amount."

"To prove it to you once and for all? You have a deal." he said, "I hope you have not spent all of last moontide's wages."

Seth scoffed. "Are you suggesting that that should be a large sum for me to pay?" he said, pretending to be insulted, "Most of it goes back to his Midget Pharaohness..." Mahado frowned, "...in taxes. And as if I had the time to go out shopping anyway. Why is it, that we are taxed the most, when we do all the work around here?"

Isis shrugged as she dipped her quill back in the ink pot. "I have not figured it out yet. Why money though you two?"

"Because..." Seth said, "Despite being contrary to popular belief, Mahado is in fact heterosexual. And we have to prove it."

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In that small moment, Mahado had lost. It all became too much. A flash of pain, as his pelvis clicked back into place, and then an undescribable pleasure exploded from his manhood and ran through him like an earthquake. He hit a wall of sheer ecstasy. A loud moan erupted from his throat, and he realised that it had just become very hot and wet between his legs. He turned onto his side slightly, panting for air as the after-tremours shook his gut.

Peseshet had taken a step back when he had moaned, and now was stood with her hands over her mouth, staring. "Oh. My. Gosh..." she squealed, her arms shaking, "Mahado... I..."

Mahado screwed his eyes shut again and tried to pretend that this was not happening. That had been the first time he had ever been sexually aroused, and what disgusted him the most, was, that deep inside his mind behind the disgust of himself and it being Peseshet for once in her life innocently trying to help him, he might have actually enjoyed how it amazing it felt. He tried to move, but felt too exhausted to even speak. He had, it seemed, pulled every stomach muscle, as toned as they might have been, and he slid his hand to them, trying to ignore the seeping pain.

"Mahado... I, _never, __never_ meant... This is all my fault... Oh good Rê..." she said, still frozen and staring.

"It is not your fault..." he whispered, "You were only doing your job." his head slumped back and he massaged his eyes in shame.

"Here..." she said, picking up a damp cloth and pressing it to his forehead. He felt his cheeks burn. Never had he been so embarrassed in his life. Finally mustering the strength to heave himself up, he cast a vanishing spell on the ahem, mess, and sighed in relief as he felt dry again. He eased himself off the table and reached clumsily for his tunic, throwing it back on.

"This. Never. Happened." he said, attempting to sound authoritive but failed miserably, sounding more nervous instead.

"You said it!" she said, as he stormed out and slammed the door behind him. She grimaced palely and stared blankly at a random part of the boring stone floor waited until she could no longer hear his footsteps, before sprinting out of the consulting room to find her mentor. "LADY TAWE!!!"

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She took a deep breath. "Well, I, during that examination, I, um, it went a bit wrong..."

"Why, were there any fractures or deeper problems?" she asked seriously.

"Nai..."

"Well then spit it out girl!" she chuckled.

"I... I... I... I gave... I gave him..."

"You gave him what? A present? Rabies? A broken nose? What?" Tawe asked calmly. She mentally nodded and smirked to herself. She had a pretty good idea of what her old novice was about to tell her. She had seen it thousands of times before with other young physicians.

Peseshet inhaled sharply and bit the bullet. "I gave him an orgasm." she said, her cheeks turning bright red as she grimaced.

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Seth paled. "Oh!!! Alright!!! You two!!! Stop it, right now! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! You go over there, you over here..." he pried the two apart and stood between them, facing Isis, whose multiple hands began to slap him away, "Keep your hands to yourself!"

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**REVIEWS FOR THIS SIDE-FIC ARE GOOD ALSO!!! CHECK IT OUT!**


	25. ONE SHOT!

**And 'Early Bird':**

Summary: They say that the early bird gets the worm. Or, in this case, the High Priest. And there's rather less between them than she ever would have thought. Literally. SethxKisara rated for Seth's lack of a kilt. Oneshot.

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Quotes:

She noticed that the entire wooden path was sopping wet. The servants had obviously scrubbed it the night before, and it wouldn't dry out until the sun shone. Hence it was still covered in water. There was a little wooden side path which spiralled down from the corridor, and went down another garden, but no one ever used it because it was too close to the depths of the pool for comfort. And this spiral path was also laden with puddles of water. She had wanted to go to to one of the further gardens beyond the bathing pools, and stepped out onto the wet wood.

And she froze.

She had thought the bathing pools would be empty at this time in the morning.

Obviously, they weren't.

She held her breath to stop herself from gasping and felt her knees go weak as she identified the figure standing in the water.

It was Seth.

And he was as naked as he was born.

His chestnut hair fell untidily down the back of his neck, and then he lay back in the water, submerging himself for a few seconds, before re-emerging and shaking his head, making his hair lie in it's usual way again. As the water ran down his face and neck he let out a quiet yet sensual moan, and Kisara felt her cheeks burn. He stood up, water dripping from his practically steaming body, and she was rooted on the spot. His physique was perfect, and, what was usually left to the imagination underneath his tunic, did not disappoint.

_Quite_ the contrary.

The muscles in his shoulders, chest and arms were well-developed, smooth and very toned, and she caught a glimpse of a six pack any man would have been proud of. Of course priests were not allowed to have any body hair as a hygiene regulation except on their heads and, well, there, so his skin was smooth perfectly tanned from the blazing Egyptian sun, and his sapphire blue eyes closed in bliss as he submerged himself in the cool water again. And, the icing on the cake, he had a really large...

_Oh._

_Holy._

_Ra._

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She took another step, and her foot slid out from under her. She tried to grab a plant, but she lost her balance trying, and fell. There was a massive splash, and Seth's head snapped around. Falling in was all well and good, even if it was a little embarrassing, but there was a problem.

Kisara couldn't swim.

She struggled frantically to the surface, and looked for something to grab. There wasn't anything. She took a deep breath as she felt herself go under again, her arms flailing madly. She closed her eyes tightly to keep the water out, and tried desperately to get herself to the surface. With no avail. She let the bubbles rise from her mouth and nose, and was all too aware of the lack of oxygen. Her lungs screamed at her, and she thought it was all over. She felt weak and let herself sink lower, but then she felt something grab hold of her under her arms and pull her upwards. Her head and upper body broke to the surface, and she coughed and spat out water, taking in huge gulps of air. She felt something strong clamp around her waist, and looked up. And froze again.

"What in Ra's name are you doing???!!!" a deep masculine voice demanded.

"I... Uh... I..." she spluttered, "I... I was exploring... Your Majesty..."

"Is my rescuing of you to become a regular arrangement?" he demanded, and she shrunk and shook her head. He felt her tremble beneath his arms, and snorted, "Why are you exploring at this time in the morning?"

"I wanted to see all the gardens, your Majesty..." she said, becoming vastly more aware of how her body was pressed against his, and how close he was, she tried frantically not to blush. She failed, "I did not wish to interrupt you... So I tried to go down there, but it was slippery..." she said, coughing up yet more water, and her cheeks flushed red, and she looked down to avoid his gaze, realising that then she was only looking at something else that made her go redder.

"I see."

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**WildEm: SAME THING HERE REALLY!!! I think this oneshot is really good, so please people I need reviews!!!! REVIEWS, SAG ICH DIR, REVIEWS!!! **


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